The world of Ascendance
by Sevoris
Summary: The world of GitS: Ascendance is a different, more complex world than that of Mass Effect and Ghost in the Shell Canon both. This document will provide a further overview, and deep-dive through codex entries, book excerpts, and other sources of in-universe explanation and exposition. Furthermore, both in-universe and out-of-universe world-related questions are also answered here.
1. 1 - Introduction & State of the Universe

**State of the universe**

To the reader, the very prologue of Ascendance has been a clue that in the universe of Ascendance, quite a few things have changed, both majorly and minorly – And both on the sides of transhumanity, and that of the Citadel races (and beyond, in the Terminus, Verge and other constellations, clusters and solar systems we were never told about.) This has created a galaxy where these major and minor changes alike compound, be it on the side of transhumanity, or of that of the Citadel Races. Especially the recent events of the post-transhuman contact period have begun overturning and changing the Citadel Status Quo of the last hundred years.

The world of Ascendance is complicated; from the completely new backstory of transhumanity and its nearly two centuries of spaceborne growth until First Contact, its post-contact interaction with the larger galaxy, to the science and technology it has introduced to the galactic community, to new and expanded technologies and capabilities on the Citadels side.

"The World of Ascendance" will flash this world out further, mostly through a variety of codex and other worldbuilding entries as written and posted on Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity, but also a set of dedicated stories – Eventually, we hope to expand into an entire worldbuilding series besides a growing set of stories set in this universe we have created.

So then, without further addo… let's get into the state of the universe.

* * *

 **Transhumanity**

The 21st century of then-human history was defined by a series of leaps, bounds and catastrophic events of various kinds. Two largely non-nuclear world wars in the 2030s pushed mankind twice close to extinction by way of the weapons he created, but also set off the spark for a Biotech revolution that would see humanity turn into transhumanity in the 22nd century, adding AI, Uplifts, Bioroids and Augmented to its widening group of sophonts.

The subsequent decades were defined by the spaceflight revolutions – The exploration and colonization of the solar system, growing corporate independence, a series of independence declarations by new, interplanetary nation-states and alliances in the mind-21st century, and first great leaps in Bio-augmentation. Genetic fixing, epigenetic upgrades, the first advanced neural interfaces, augmentations and prosthetic bodies were all developed and refined during this era, setting the foundation for things to come.

When the Mars Archives were discovered around the turn of the 2080s, they set of a second revolution as slowly but steadily, their secrets were unearthed, reverse-engineered, and understood. Before long, humanity held a first, tentative key to the stars… and went to war over it.

The interplanetary war began over issues that had been brewing for a long time. What began as a bid of corporate independence from the earthern and few extraterrestrial nationstates of the time exploded into a full-blown war of the worlds, engulfing the entire solar system from Mercury or Saturn, as nations and corporations went to war, fighting each other alike in a shifting system of Alliances.

In the end, it was the tight hold onto the Mars Archives which granted the Allies access to the very first Mass Effect FTL drive, mass drivers, and kinetic barriers, plus the eezo to construct them – And with them the trump card that ended the Interplanetary War, and its stalemates, for good.

In the aftermath, humanity rebuilt… and began changing. The Mars Archives did not only contain technology, but also research Archives. Known as the "green archives", they contained prothean research on cro-magnon humans. The prothean understanding of human neurology and biology transformed entire branches of science and engineering, and opened a first tentative door to advanced human augmentation.

When humanity found the Charon Relay in 2095, and opened it three years later, an entire new frontier opened up, externally… and internally.

During the first half of the 22nd century, humanity began its first tentative steps into a transhuman future. The successful uploading and emulation of human minds in their entirety, as neuronal structures, became a reliable and common practice. Human mental augmentation rose from a complex science that was liable to (sometimes extreme) failures to a reliable science, followed by the innovation of data formats that allowed the first exchanges of memories, skills, and recorded experiences. New neuronal interface standards and body augmentations enabled Shells that had before been impossible to create, much less control and life in. And AI science and bioroid design became the foundations of a new form of civilization.

By the time of the Interstellar War in 2164, the last inter-nation-state armed war of now-transhuman history, functional immortality wasn't a dream – It was reality.

The interstellar war was also what gave rise to the precursor of the modern Systems Alliance, in itself a renovation and evolution of the old Systems Alliance, founded as an extension of the United Nations. The new Pax Stellaris would be enforced by independent hand; a new forum for interstellar law, exchange and joint policy was created, even through it suffered from the usual inefficiencies, and the at times very fierce insistence on independence. The only other major conflict transhumanity would suffer in the late 22nd century was one of independence – The Outer Fringe War, an event that would resonate well into the Council era of transhuman existence, when the unsatisfied colonies of several interstellar powers, including the USNA, rebelled against the Core and their economical-political position. Even though the Outer Fringe Coalition was crushed, and its radical elements captured, permanently killed or dispersed into the wind, the aftermath of the Outer Fringe War has consequences – Including a still-brooding separation movement right inside transhuman space, fueled by the unification under the Systems Alliance government and its laws as well.

The First Contact War happened in 2197. A tragedy born out of a conspiracy, misfortunes and misunderstanding, the Relay 314 conflict raged for three intensive months in the Cluster surrounding the system holding the Chinese colony of Xin Shanxi – Only The Eviction of the turian forces from Xin Shanxi, a responding turian build-up to crush transhumanity under billions of soldiers and several fleets and dreadnoughts, and the resulting Council intervention prevented a war that would have ended in devastation and transhumanities conventional defeat.

The aftermath was complicated. Transhumanity was a newcomer never seen before – A population defined as much by its population of Synthetic Intelligences and synthetically created transhumans (in the form of Bioroids) as it was by an origin population of "native" transhumans, underlined by groups of other AI and Uplifts. They had demonstrated a range of technologies not seen on this level before – And safely. With transhumanity came proof of safe General Intelligence and manageable ASI (a technology deemed essentially completely unsafe after the last straw that was the Geth Rebellions), and advanced medical science and augmentations. The shockwaves of these revelations would change the galaxy in the decades to come – In major and minor ways, positive and negative.

Transhumanity is now unified under the government of the Systems Alliance, with a population around 100 billion strong, and spread out over an interstellar home territory that extends up to 20,000 lightyears away from Sol, into the Orion-Cygnus arm and parts of the Perseus arm, taking up the core arms of a region once known as "the Unknown bulk" in Citadel Stellatography. Currently, transhuman colonial expansion is focused inwards, inside its own space, and trailwards into the Verge, a last phase of expansion driven by economic necessities.

Transhumanity has engaged in two major wars since First Contact – Both with the Batarian Hegemony over control of the Skylian verge. The second of these lead to the assault on Torfan, and ultimately, the progressing deterioration of the Batarian Hegemony.

By 2232, transhumanity has secured itself an associated position on the Council; it enjoys an embassy and overall neutral relations with the major and minor civilizations on the Citadel Council. However, repeated incidents of escalating cybercrime, and continuous issues over a selection of problems continue to sour relations from time to time.

* * *

 **The Citadel Alliance and its members**

One the Citadel side of things, there are few noteworthy changes that impact the modern world; at large, the galactic situation still resembles canon to a large degree. There are, however, a few changes: A.) The techbase has been expanded, as part of a general theme of thorough advancement. However, the Citadel Alliance had not achived the common degree of augmentation, or transspecies cultures, before First Contact – A fact that is rapidly changing as now transhuman tech and concepts stream onto the open market and are adapted. B.) The quarians never lost their population and territory quite like in Canon, though the Quarian Federation exists in-exile, with a good majority of its population (over a billion) housed on spacecraft fleets, and C.) both the Citadel Alliance and the Terminus gained in minor species, powers, and interactions.

The arrival of transhumanity however, has triggered a massive change galaxy-wide. Both the asari and the quarians are undergoing major, sometimes cataclysmic events. For the asari, the arrival of transhumanity was a culture shock without end that has, by 2232, torn the Republics almost asunder, and deadlocked many issues in political opposition. Cross-cultural influence and contact is expanding rapidly, and the asari are both a source of major support for the Systems Alliance and transhuman rights, and a serious opposition. Overall, the transhuman-asari relation is probably one of the, if not the most complex of interstellar relations in every aspect.

The quarians are experiencing an even worse social split. Already a pro-augmentation species by nessecity, transhumanities arrival and mastering of "safe" AI after a fashion has caused an extreme split – One part quarians hates or detest transhumanity for a variety of reasons – Another part has started embracing transhuman philosophy and technology, and questioned existing doctrine – Including the quarian perception of the Geth.

Turian-transhuman relations were frosty after the Relay-314 conflict. The entire affair was an enourmus public sleight for the turians – Several of their high-ranking commanders were found guilty of conspiracy and treason, and the attack on transhumanity caused a political crisis as the integrity of other turian commanders was also called into doubt. This, and a perceived (and somewhat justified) threat in transhumanity lead to the "Cold Years" – Almost a decade of extremely bad political relations between the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy. This eventually thawed out with a change in political leadership and the first trust-building actions from the side of the Systems Alliance. In 2232, relations are neutral at large, with a few positive stand-outs, through the Relay-314 conflict is still a sensitive area.

Quite thoroughly positive relations are found with the Salarian Union. Pro-transspecies with a passion, and ready to retry the development of AI both out of demonstration of their secure viability as well as simple pragmatism in matching transhumanities own AIs and ASIs specifically, the Salarian Union has at large, facilitated many positive deals for transhumanity – Though transhuman reconstruction efforts of Tuchanka's biosphere remain a sore point, and the Genophage debate is a shutdown argument in any negotiation or political discourse between the two powers.

* * *

 **Transspecies Tech**

Transspecies tech is one of the cornerstones of the world of Ascendance. Driven the furthest species-wide by transhumanity, though generaly proliferating and, in the physical realm, already well-proliferated, this ranges from a selection of body augmentation technologies over mental augmentations to tech that allows the uploading, digital handling, emulation and downloading of the sapient mind in full, as well as its quite extreme manipulation by means of psychosurgical tools.

Physical augmentations are widespread on either side – From minor implants and boosting augs as already seen in canon, over advanced augmentive cybernetics and biological upgrades, to high-conversion and full-conversion cyborgs that not even retain a fully biological brain in extreme cases, these are all feasible – If, on the Citadel side, still somewhat attached to higher price tags.

In a similar manner, Direct Neural Interfaces of various kind are proliferated – Though transhumanity has introduced several gold standards of interface and translation formats, and has developed DNI tech until a point where brain expansion by way of Exocortex is completely viable, and advanced abstract information can be intuitively introduced, read, and the brain strata can be rewired through so-called "effector DNIs" – This allows selective erasure and writing of any brain data (such as memories and skills) and also high-bandwith dynamic synthetic wiring with brain regions.

Such technology enables a host of technologies – Advanced mind enhancement, conceptual and abstract interfacing with information systems for intuitive control, perception and manipulation of data systems, skill software, memory up- and downloads, and even forking of neurological processes (known in GitS canon as "Ghost-dubbing").

The true off-shot of transspecies tech, however, is the separation of mind (henceforth refered to as the pheriphial and complete "Ego", representing the entire brain, and in distinction to the "Ghost", the "personality core" that defines a persona within the neuronal structures and information strata of the brain, all of which are housed in a "Shell" or "Sleeve".) Starting with cyberbrain transfers and modern augmentation of sensory and motor centers, it becomes possible to transfer the Ego and Ghost between bodies – At first, through physicaly moving the processing strata. Then, through uploading, digital storage and emulation, and downloading into another processing strata, in a process referred to as "resleeving". After some time, modern formats allowed digital transfer of the Ego over a network, as well as hosting of the Ego on appropriate servers.

The final big change is the "stack" – technically called a cortical stack, a special air gabbed brain mapping and storage implant that creates an up-to-date series of back-up files of the users brain. In the event of death, the heavily protected stack can be extracted from its cradle in the neck area and used to re-instantiate the Ego. In the same manner, these back-ups can be pulled in regular intervals and stored offline, creating a secondary insurance in case of stack loss. The end result of this, and other back-up technologies, is functional immortality.

* * *

 **Risks and crimes of the modern Era**

There are a variety of concerns and crimes that represent serious risks – Many of them are connected to various forms of cyber- and infocrime, and extend as far as Ego hacking, and the most detestable of all crimes: Ghosthacking, an infowarfare technique able to to completely alter the personality of an Ego, and possibly irreversibly so.

The common sophont faces regular risks: Personal espionage and hacking of personal data, encryption ransom schemes, cyber-vandalism and personalized Kaos attacks, and other criminal activities aimed at extracting valuable information. This also includes blueprint theft of restricted, DMR-protected files, or even cybernetic-hostage schemes where the very lifes of people are tethered to continuous payments, services, or favors.

The big personal risks are information extraction schemes were data is stolen from the very mind itself, ego trafficking (in part or full), Ego slavery, and Ghosthacks. Most sophonts are safe from these events by sheer statistical cause – But the numbers of victims is there, and in Citadel space, it has been rising over the last years, as law enforcement plays catch-up with criminals. Transhuman criminals especially have discovered Citadel space for themselves, and are responsible for a great deal of Info- and cybernetics crime.

The other major threats are terrorism, internal and external, spaceborne piracy, and slavery on frontier colonies. Terrorism internally is mostly caused by a variety of extremists, primarily the fractured independence groups left over after the Outer Fringe War, or a selection of other ideological extremists of religious or political nature. The fact that modern, AI-driven automatization and fabber technology allows these groups to raise significant forces if willing, makes them a potent danger, and has lead to a greater adaptation of paramilitary response strategies – On the transhuman side, Section 9 foremost among them.

* * *

 **A/N (Sevoris)** : Well, that is it, for the time being. The rest of the massive information already compiled about the Exoxen-universe, as well as other dedicated entries, will follow with time; the above was mostly a primer to get you into the meat of things.

In this document specifically, I encourage all readers of Ascendance to ask questions in the review of this series; I will answer them both by way of PM and in public compilation chapters, either when sufficient answers accumulate or it is very important.

That is it for the moment – Next up is translating and re-formatting (as well as padding out, seeing as worldbuilding-wise things have moved since the timeline was first established) the timeline of Ascendance, and the transhuman perspective on it, seeing as reports have reached my ears the existing solution is… suboptimal.

Besides this, I will begin mirroring the codex entries hosted on SpaceBattles and Sufficient Velocity onto this document.


	2. 2 - Timeline from 2020 to 2232

**Timeline**

This timeline covers events from 2020 A.D. until 2232 A.D, when the story of Ascendance begins in March of the same year; almost two centuries after humanity reached for the stars once again – And this time, held onto them.

This timeline is by now means complete, or covers all and every major event; it does however already provide a very good overview of many developments that occurred during the two centuries between the near future and the "current day" age of Ascendance.

Also, for those wondering: Events in the Ascendance timeline were intentionally stretched out compared to Canon, creating a slower, if still very fast by any standard, progression towards Associate Status. Ascendance is set during the Interim years, approaching events that will change the galaxy forever…

And a fair warning: Long and detailed timeline.

* * *

 **2022 | Return to Space:** With the first manned Moon landing since the 1980s, Mankind returns to the moon – And soon stays.

 **2024 | SpaceX ITS Introduced:** The SpaceX ITS system is introduced into commercial service and provides an immediate bon in cheap space access and interplanetary spaceflight.

 **2026 | The first DNIs:** The first, comparatively primitive DNIs with advanced neuronal interfacing become available. The dream of mind-linked cybernetics, sensory prosthetics and minor mental augmentation/boosting become reality.

 **2027 | US adopts the Next-Generation Warfighter System:** In a global environment of technological progress and rising international tension, the US are the first to introduce a new generation of warfighting equipment – Including the first exoskeletons, "smart weapons", advanced battlefield networking and an increased army of drones.

 **2028 | First International Mars Mission:** The first manned international Mars mission leaves Earth orbit on a transfer orbit for Mars. They will return in 2033, after 500 stays mission days on the martian surface.

 **2029 – 2032 | World War III:** One of the most devastating wars in human history, the limited nuclear World War III almost pushes humanity to the brink of annihilation. Total destruction is only turned away through the early orbital nuclear interception systems. It is only through the "Japanese Miracle" that decades if not centuries of suffering are averted, as Micromachine Radiation Scrubbing enables rapid clean-up of nuclear fallout. Between war research and civilian efforts to aid millions of sick and disabled, human biotechnology advances in massive leaps.

 **September 2037 | IPEV-01 "Beagle" departs for Jupiter:** Having finishes its one-year orbital construction process, the Interplanetary Exploration Vehicle 01 "Beagle", prominently sponsored by India, Africa and South-East Asia together with the European Union and minor US support, departs for Jupiter. It is expected to return from its year-long mission in 2041, and one the first manned spacecraft to venture beyond the asteroid belt proper.

 **…: NOVEMBER 2037 – JULY 2039 | WORLD WAR IV :…**

 **November 2037 | World War IV breaks out:** Tensions escalate between the Littoral Alliance and the People's Republic of China over shipping and seaborne construction rights in the Chinese Sea and Pacific. The US is drawn into the conflict after China orders a UCGV swarm strike against a US carrier group, forcing the EU into the conflict. The conflict that began in the Pacific and South-East Asian sphere soon spreads over the world as Alliances go to war against each other. Nuclear war is averted by a hairs breath due to new, orbital-based interceptor grids - Instead weapon satellites and drones shoot at each other around Earth and the Moon.

 **2039 | World War IV ends:** The 4th World War ends with the Kyoto Peace Accords, settling two years of harsh, heavily automated conflict on and around Earth.

 **September 2039 | Pan-Pacific Alliance becomes the first Post-War "Superalliance":** An Alliance of Canada, Mexico and several pacific states, the Pan-Pacific Alliance formed during World War IV. Post-war, it solifies further, and becomes the first of the new Superalliances that define the Post-WW IV era.

 **End of 2039 – 2086 | The First Golden Age:** The first golden Age was marked by remarkable advances in spaceflight, orbital construction, exoplanetary colonization and civilization, and breakthroughs on human biotechnology, augmentation, genetic manipulation and design sciences, and AI. The frontier of the Solar system is conquered as far as Pluto, while the frontiers of the human body and mind are explored and conquered in turn. Despite heavy social unrest and terror attacks of unprecedented scale, the massive advances of the time in technology and wellfare make the period between 2039 and 2086 the most prosperous era of the 21st century in public perception.

 **2040 | The First Hypercorps:** The first Hypercorporations appear in the massive post-war growth period, as commercial space development explodes and the demand for personal augmentations, gene-fixing, and cosmetic melding work surges. The Japanes-American Hanka Precision Instruments Corporations growths massively, becoming one of the first "Hypercorporations".

 **2041 | Poseidon Industries branches out – Introduction of the first Bioroids:** Poseidon Industries, previously a manufacturer and operator of sea- and undersea-based resource extraction, sea farming, and seaborne housing systems, expands its Biotechnology branch with the anouncement of the world-first Bioroid - Engineered transhumans grown artificially, nursed in special crèches, and able to perform tasks with superhuman precision and endurance. Poseidon Industries introduces the first series of Biodroids with great promp, causing discussion and outrage over the question of human rights for what many consider to be biological robots, not worthy of human rights or free will.

 **2042 | The "Gold crash":** The continued cheapness of asteroid mining sends the regular resource economy into price tailspins. The "gold crash", heralded by the price plunge from more than 45,000 US Dollars to 300 US Dollars (2017 value), revamps conventional human industry and economy in the years to come. Research-intensive endeavors, from construction projects over a new wave of general wealth, including former Third-world nations, to the new robotic armies of the new age become possible.

 **2** **nd** **March 2042 | First Ape upload:** Several ape brains are successfully uploaded into a full-emulation AI system through the use of "slicing" imaging; the Apes are shown to be able to control special surrogate bodies. However, they go crazy after several weeks and attempts to have them control other body types. Still, the experiment supplies vital data for future uploading and brain-body interfacing experiments.

 **2043 | Space-based Solar-beamed power booms:** The construction of orbital and transorbital solar farm from lunar, NEO and asteroid belt material booms; several countries supply more than 50% of their energy demands using orbital power solutions. The "space energy rush" catalyzes a new development of clean energy technology in lockstep with advances into 4th and 5th generation nuclear reactor design.

 **December 2043 – August 2045 | Poseidon Space constructs "Palace in Heaven":** Poseidon Industries branches out into Space construction with Poseidon Space beginning construction of a massive, entirely corporation-owned O'Neil Space Colony named "Palace in Heaven". The future colony will serve as Headquarters, Research and Development, and Production complex for the corporation while also offering a private premium space living enviroment for its top employees.

 **2044 | Offworld population boom:** Luna cracks the 2 Million population mark. The first vacuum-rated 'Borg chassis appear on the commercial and civilian market, offering operations in the vacuum of space without the use of Spacesuits.

 **August 2045 | "Palace in Heaven" construction finishes:** Poseidon Industries finishes construction of the "Palance of Heaven" O'Neil Habitat at Earth-Luna L4, the largest privately habitat owned exclusively by the Poseidon Corporation to date. Other corporations express similar interests in large spaceborne habitats, safe from the attacks of the Neo-Luddite movement (and earthern laws.)

 **April 2046 | "Icarus Demonstrator" launches:** The Interplanetary Society launches its "Icarus Demonstrator" spacecraft from its Interplanetary Industries Berth in the asteroid belt. The spacecraft is the fourth human probe to breach the Heliopause and head out into interstellar space one year later.

 **November 2047 | IPEV-02 "Pegasus" arrives at Saturn:** With IPEV-02 "Pegasus", the first large manned expedition arrives at the Saturn system, one year after a smaller ahead mission.

 **2048 | Mars breaches the 1-million population mark:** After over a dozen years of martian colonisation efforts, Mars breaches the 1-million population mark; 1/4th of the population are bioroids.

 **2049 | First military incident since 2039:** A tense 23-hour stand-off between a Chinese and a European Task Force in transit to Jupiter from Earth and Mars, respectively, marks the first military incident since the end of World War IV in 2039. The two Task Forces transfer orbitals crossed each other with less than 10,000 kilometer clearance, leading to the Task Forces violating each other's defensive perimeter. The EU and PRC blame each other for failure to communicate their Task force movements and orbitals for the next weeks, and Earth-Luna and Mars are the scene of tense sensor stand-offs, with european and chinese stations lighting each other up with active guidance radar again and again over the next weeks. Thankfully, nothing more happens.

 **15** **th** **August 2050 | The "Skyfall" Incident becomes the single-largest Neo-Luddite attack in human history:** The Singapure Transhuman Research Megaplex, home to research labs of many Hypercorporations developing transhuman augmentations, is attacked with a diverted lunar shipment. Other impactors consistent of Mass driver payloads, kinetic rods, and decommissioned satellites wreck or destroy other earthborn headquarters of corporations developing transhuman tech; two dirty bombs are detonated. It is the single-largest terror attack in history, marking a split in human society. Many people with heavy augmentations, as well as Bioroids and Androids, look towards the stars for a safe future, and corporations around the world are happy to oblique. Hanka Precision Instruments and Poseidon Instrustries heavily focus down on their own Mars development efforts, and become major government contractors with their respective expertise. Bioroids become even more integral to the martian colonization and terraforming effort.

 **November 2050 | The "Mars Conspiracy" is born:** In the aftermath of the "Skyfall", several Hypercorp CEOs meet in private aboard "Palace in Heaven". Hanka Precision Instruments, Poseidon Industries, Serano Genomics and others plot to secure their own "Corpstates" for their employees, AIs and Bioroids away from Earth-Luna and the threat of the Neo-Ludites and a "primitive, rejecting society of people with small minds", as Takeshi Hanka puts it during the meeting. That this will also give them de-facto independence from earthern powers and their laws and restrictions is seen as a major plus and brings further corporations aboard.

 **2051 | First terrestrial space elevator:** Enabled by new zero-g manufacturing processes and micromachine weaving technologies, the worlds first space elevaror is constructed in a joint venture before the coast of South America. It is a pilot project in a world of rapidly expanding spacelift.

 **2052 | Venus reaches the 50,000 population mark:** The Venusian system (Atmosphere, orbitals and solar L1 and L2 Lagrange points) breaches the 50,000 population mark. Not invested in ressource extraction, Venus instead styles itself all around lifestyle, biotechnology (including building an early atmosphere-borne artificial ecology) and Research and Development. Smaller human powers are also working on Venus-stationed Solar Power, not interested in the more challenging operations around Mercury.

 **2053 | Taris Republic declares Independence:** The Martian Tarsis Republic formaly declares its independence. Overnight, the landscape of the Solar system changes fundamentaly as private citizens come together to form their own Nationstate independent off Earth. Other colonies such as the Inner Belt Alliance, the Artemis League and the Interplanetary Commonwealth soon follow, formally severing ties with the earthern powers and authorities.

 **2054 | Founding of the Interplanetary United Nations Organisation:** The IUNO is founded by all earthbound and several earth-independent powers to create a new forum independent of the old UN, which is formaly disbanded in the same year. The new IUNAO is faced with challenges almost immidiently, as independent solar nations spare off against earthbound powers and their corporate lobbyists. Corporations also demand more independence and authority of their own.

 **2055 | Jupiter and Mercury begin advanced development and colonization:** The Jovian system and Mercury become targets of massive economic development and, in the former case, large-scale moon and space settlement indicatives. Mercury is targeted by heavily automated missions; the only manned presences are anchored in the shadow of Mercury at the Mercury-Sun L2. Both systems sore over the 20,000 population mark within months.

 **2056 |Poseidon Interplanetary begins Mars Settlement Iniative Phase 3:** Poseidon Interplanetary, new umbrella company for Poseidon Industries, begins with the construction of a third set of massive over- and underground Arcologies on Mars. The Corporation is the 6th-largest presence on Mars.

 **2056 | Mars Conspiracy prepares for eventual martian independence under its members:** The Mars conspirators begin preparations to declare their independence on Mars. Focussing their development on the westward area of the Amazonis Platina, Olympus Mons, and the Tharsis Montes, they construct two space elevators and a set of Mass drivers. The goal is to achive total independence all the while the space elevators and other orbital plattforms will serve as independent orbitheads and defenses against spaceborne assault.

 **2057 | Icarus One, Icarus Two and Icarus Three launch:** The Interplanetary Society launches its next series of interstellar probes; this time with heavier payload capacity, the probes are headed for Alpha Centauri, E Eridani and Wolf 359. Travel times will be in the decades.

 **June 2061 | Jupiter passes the 2 million population mark** : The Jovian system surpasses the 2 million population mark. A surprisingly popular destination for those wishing to escape earth and the augmentation wave of the inner system, most of the population is concentrated in shielded space habitats and inside and under the ice shell of Europa, whose massive amounts of water offer a natural radiation shield against the raging radiation of the Jupiter system.

 **August 2061 |Next-gen Dry Carbon Organizers demonstrated inside specialized fabricator system:** The EU-based Hypercorp Serano Genomics demonstrates the worlds first commercial Dry Carbon Organizer Nanoswarms inside the enclosed fabrication environment of the world's first Nanofabricatory, producing a massive 10,000-carats diamond inside the system over the span of several hours. The "Diamond Age" begins as the technology advances in leaps and bounds over the next years, the "Diamond Crash" invalidates one of the last truly rare minerals of the Universe after the asteroid mining-induced "Gold crash" of the 2040s.

 **2062 | The EU disbands; the European Stellar Federation is founded in its place:** Recognizing that by now millions of EU citizens live beyond Earth and demand their own recognition in the political systems of the EU, the EU moves to disband itself; its member nations found the European Stellar Federation (ESF) in its place. While the administration remains in Brussel, off-world colonies gain previously unheard-off recognition and independence. A new european expansion rush sets in as the new ESF founds colonies all over the Solar System.

 **2063 | The Second Space Elevator Wave:** A second wave of Space Elevators begins construction around Earth, the last ever - Five new elevators are constructed over the next four years. Three of them are sponsored by waterborne nationstates in the pacific who seek their own, independent space access in order to develop more ressources for themselves on earth.

 **2065 | Victor Manswell founds the Manswell Initiative** : Victor Manswell, human trillionare and spaceflight enthusiast, founds the private Manswell Initiative in order to promote and develop viable ways of unmanned and manned interstellar colonization. Manswell quickly gathers a massive crew of scientists, engineers and willing colonists to his cause, beginning the development of a custom telescope array, interstellar probes and several colony ships. In the following years, the Manswell Initiative pushes breakthroughs in fusion propulsion, cryonic and nanotech suspension, autonomous systems, AI design, and self-replicating Microtech.

 **2068 | First advanced "Starwisp" probe swarms launched:** Using magnetic launchers and laser-based acceleration, the Starwisp Initiative launches its first relativistic interstellar probe swarms from the Venus-Sun L3. The Manswell Initiative is soon to follow with its own system.

 **January 2069 | "New Eden" Mars Nanoterraforming Iniative proposed, approved and implemented:** The european hypercorp Serano Genomics, major producer of Micro- and Nanotechnology, introduces Project New Eden to the European Stellar Federation, and proposes using advanced Micromachine Technology to accelerate the centuries-long terraforming effort. The project is approved with overwhelming majority in the ESF parliament and begins implementation on Mars 3 months later.

Unbeknownst to the public and the ESF, Serano Genomics plants a killswitch in the New Eden system. The nanoconstruction facilities for New Eden are also placed in future corporate territories.

 **2070: "Skyline One" transports more than 10 million people per year:** The european-african "Skyline 1" Space Elevator complex of the west coast of Africa is the first Space elevator to transport over 10 million people per year.

 **2071 | "Lowell City" becomes the first martian Megacity, with more than 25 million inhabitants:** The ESF-founded and affiliated "Lowell City" Arcology complex on Mars becomes the first true Megacity of the red planet, with 25 million inhabitants

 **2** **nd** **February 2072 | Discovery of the Mars Archives:** The American Mateus Silva and his team of independent prospectors discover the prothean structure that will become known as the "Mars Archives" near Deserado crater in the Promethei Planum. Their discovery sends immediate shockwaves through human society system-wide; the IUNO General Assembly erupts into Chaos as the tugging around the Archives begins. In a surprising move, after 6 days of intense arguments, all nations come together to ratify international access to the archives. The sabers of the interplanetary powers never come to rattle in their sheaths.

 **May 2072 | Mars Archives excavation begins:** International researchers and corporations begin with the excavation of the Mars Archives under a purposefully constructed containment dome. The outlying land quickly becomes covered with a rapidly growing scientific installation that grows into a nearby city, "New Cairo", only some 50 kilometers away from the Archives enforced exclusion zone.

 **August 2072 | "Mass effect" first discovered:** The research team around Doctor James Rockhound, Doctor Itaki Weber and Doctor Sun Qing publish their greatest discovery of the Mars Archives - The "Mass Effect." While analyzing components of the alien vessel, the team discovered an exotic substance that does not fit into conventional models of baryonic matter - And seems to be able to manipulate space, time and mass itself. The substance is named "Element Zero" by a joker on the internet - Within 24 hours, the name goes viral and sticks, becoming the official work name of the alien substance. "Eezo" is quickly adopted as a shortcut.

 **October 2073 | Poseidon Industries and Hanka Precision Instruments are contracted for Archive research:** Poseidon Robotics and Hanka Precision Instruments gain government contracts for aid in decrypting the massive wealth of the archives, as well as providing infrastructure and security. The two Hypercorps are especialy interested in the Archives "Green Vault", which seems to contain Prothean Biology and Biotech data and research, including research data of Cro-Magna humans. Both corporations see the possibilities in using the insights of the Protheans into human biology for their own technologies.

 **2074 | Breakthrough in Mass Effect science:** Professor Alex Xalies develops the first fundamental theory of element zero technology, paving the way for theoretical physics and engineering. The big breakthrough is the understanding that A.) Element zero generates a form of dark energy when exited, B.) that these emissions can and have to be shaped to create precise, metric-altering effects.

 **May 2076 | Development of the Mk. I Boost Core:** The Mk.I Boost core is the first major innovation to come from the Mars Archives. The assembly of a material core, waveguides, generates and special projectors, using the newly discovered "Element Zero", is able to lower the realized mass within a volume enough to propel smaller spacecraft to higher speeds with less propellant. Capital craft remain out of its reach, however.

 **October 2076 | Maiden Flight of the "Venture Horizon":** The international spacecraft IIPBCD-01 "Venture Horizon" breaches 0.3 cee using a high-powered fusion drive and a Mk.I Boost Core, accelerating to the incredible speed in only half an hour. It is a window into a possible future and dramatic changes in spaceflight for mankind.

 **2078 | Manswell Initiative approaches the Mars Archives Group with a corporate offer** : Extremely interested by recent breakthroughs in Mass Effect Science, the Manswell Initiative deepens its cooperation with the Mars Archives; Manswell also offers increased private sponsorship of the group in return for access to one drive core array for the first manned Alpha Centauri expedition. Ultimately, the deal goes through.

 **2080 | Manswell Alpha Centauri expedition departs Sol:** Equipped with as prototype -X core, the Manswell Alpha Centauri Expedition departs the Sol System aboard MISV-01 _Deepspace Horizon_ , heading with 0.5 cee for Alpha Centauri. The journey will take 10 years.

 **2082 | Boost Core becomes widely available:** The Boost core becomes commercially available, though limited by the amounts of Eezo available. The first "Fast Courier" spacecraft are used by Nationstates.

 **February 2086 |** **Discovery of the Mars Conspiracy:** The Mars Conspiracy is discovered after ESF Intelligence intercepts and decrypts corporate communications, blowing the lid wide open on the Conspiracy and its goals to secure Mars and the Mars archives for themselves. The ESF is most displeased and denies the corporations further access to the archives, evicting research teams of the involved corporations and confiscating digital data and research. In response, the corporations move to execute their plan - An augmented Bioroid strike force moves to take the Mars archives as the opening stroke of the corporate war of independence. The plan fails as a Japanese-American Task Force also aware of the corporate machinations intercepts the strike force and kills it completely as they prepare to strike at the Mars Archives. In response, the ESF locks down corporate activty across its sphere of influence, and actually destroys several corporate spacecraft that try to run the blockade. Serano Genomics attempts a blackmail with the New Eden Killswitch - the ESF response is a sudden cyberassault across all fronts and 1st and 2nd Stellar Corps troops landing on Luna and Mars to assault and secure corporate facilities and arcologies.

 **February 2086 – 2089 | The Interplanetary War:** What starts as a tense stand-off between the ESF and the Mars Conspiracy corporations spirals into a full-blown war. Soon Nationstates fight each other; Corporations backstap each other for greater gain, and inbetween several civil wars break out over old differences -On Earth, Pro- and Contra-Aug factions fight each other, on Mars Pro- and Contra-terraforming groups become embroiled in a corp- and nation-fueled proxy conflict, and throughout the Solar system Independence movements seek to finally break free from Nationstates and Corporations. The War ends after the Allies achieve a vital technological breakthrough at the Mars Archives and the FTL-capable "Task Force Lighting" devastates corporate forces throughout the Solar system.

 **2089 | The Breaking of Corporations:** In the aftermath of the Interplanetary War, new legislations decisively break the power of the Mega- and Hypercorporations; the founding of "Corpstates" is forbidden by law and threat of capital punishment. Existing Corpstates are folded into colonies or granted independence under strict control and a heavily enforced armistice.

 **2089 | UNAS are founded:** The United States of America, Canada and Mexico unite into the United North American States, after the PPA has broken apart during the Interplanetary War.

 **July 2089 | "First" Systems Alliance is founded:** The "System Alliance" is founded as the successor of the failed IUNO by the Allied Powers. It is given more rights of supervision over the Solar System, including future colonisation efforts and supervision of the Mars Archives. Some accuse the System Alliance of being a puppet of the allied powers.

 **November 2089 | Mk.I FTL Core:** Powered along by the Yukashi-Tian Metric, the Mk.I FTL core is the first system that enables spacecraft up to 600 meters in length and 1 million tons in mass to enter FTL flight at over two dozen times cee.

 **January 2090 | Maiden Flight if FISV-01 "Nova":** ISV-02 "Nova" is the first FTL craft to leave the embrace of the solar system, venturing a lightyear away from Sol into the Oort Cloud.

 **February 2090 | Manswell ACE arrives at Alpha Centauri:** The Manswell Alpha Centauri Expedition arrive at their target star, and begin the first laborious efforts of constructing a colony on a habitable planet in the Alpha Centauri Alpha system. The message of the breakout of the Interplanetary War disturbs the colonists greatly; many are unsure of how to proceed, and if any subsequent expeditions will ever arrive.

 **2091 | The Advanced Development front of humanity reaches Uranus and Neptune:** As population numbers around Uranus and Neptune grow, humanity's activities, catalyzed by more breakthroughs in propulsion science and biological suspension, extend into the far reaches of the outer system. Kuiper belt mining is becoming a regular activity; millions of people live and work in the reaches of the Solar system already.

 **June 2091 | Project Icarus Interstellar Deep Renaissance Mission launches:** The Project Icarus Interstellar Deep Reonnaisance Mission departs Sol system on 50-year Scramjet flight through nearby solar space. It's goal is to map the interstellar medium around Sol and demonstrate fusion scramjet technology as well as long-term autonomous operation. It will also use the suns own gravity lensing effect for observations, and observe the galactic medium and neighbourhood outside of the Oort cloud and solar system.

 **2092 | The First Dispora:** Spured on by the post-war chaos, millions of people with enough money seek to escape the Solar System and the influence of its power completely. A number of other interstellar STL missions launch to other target stars, or Alpha Centauri Alpha.

 **2093 | Pluto colonies surpass 50,000 people:** Small communities in Pluto grow in numbers as people seek refuge from the reach of the Inner System; entire belt communities migrate into the outer system, wanting to escape the greater reach and power of the new "Hyperpowers" that control the inner solar system.

 **2094 | Kuiper Republics founded:** In order to find larger political recognition, the human habitats in the Kuiper Belts decide to form a Republic as their larger representative element, folding in the

 **16** **th** **April 2095 | Charon Relay discovered:** The Charon Relay is discovered, inactive, frozen inside a 30-kilometer ice asteroid orbiting Charon, the moon of Pluto. Excavation efforts of the strange object begin.

 **2096 | Charon Relay identified:** Datamnining of the Mars Archives reveals the strange object in orbit around Charon to be a "Mass Relay" and potential FTL transmission device of some kind.

 **2098 | Charon Relay is activated:** After years of research, deliberation, and preparation, the Charon Relay is activated. An expeditionary and military task force lead by Jon Grisson are the first transhumans to transfer through the portal after a series of automated probes of varrying sophistication. What they discover on the other side shocks the Solar system anew. Relays - And many of them, all found inside the star system of Arcturus, 36 lightyears from earth. Humanity has an instant future among the stars.

 **2099 | Colonization of Arcturus begins:** Dozens of expeditions stream through the new Relay connection into the Arcturus System. With a sudden demand for propellant, construction materials and raw asteroids, the economy of the Kuiper Republics booms overnight. With almost no authority over the Arcturus systems, dozens of established and various new powers and organizations stake their claims on the planets, moons and asteroids of the new star system.

* * *

 **…: 2100 – 2160 | The Second Golden Age :…**

 **2100 – 2115 | The First Expansion:** The First Expansion is defined by settlements around Sol and Arcturus and the systems beyond the primary and secondary Relays, largely focused on the STL-accessible locations. The discovery of several eezo-rich planetoids in Arcturus small Kuiper Belt and beyond Arcturus Primary Relay 01 during the second half of The First Expansion finally provides the resource relief that has hampered serious eezo developments for years. In consequence, FTL-accessible colonies around Arcturus and Sol surge.

 **2104 | Construction of "Arcturus Station" begins:** The System Alliance begins construction of its own station for Arcturus-based operations, independent of the stations of the Major Powers, at the Arcturus-Themis L5. "Arcturus Station" is scheduled to become the System Alliance Navy base for interstellar operations, based around a central Stanford Torus with another solid center - Core 01.

 **2116 – 2117 | Second American Civil War:** The Second American Civil War breaks out over differences between the UNAS on Earth and its colonies in Sol and beyond. The Second American Civil War leads into the foundation of the United Interstellar American States, which promises to represent all states fairly and equally, and turns the former UNAS colonies into proper states. The rest of the world warily watches the proceedings, but does not interfere. Only the System Alliance actively intervenes in the conflict, though it mostly ensures the other powers and international infrastructure remain undamaged by the civil war.

 **…: 2130s-2140s | The Transhuman transition :…**

 **2120 – 2140 | The Second Expansion:** The Second Expansion begins in 2120, enduring for a whole two decades. Humanity expands over around 7,000 lightyears around Sol, discovering the "First Ring" that bridges the Relay connection "arms" that extend along several primary Relays away from Arcturus. Over a hundred Solar systems are settled with small colonies during this period; the demand for unaltered Bioroids, technically just artificially grown transhumans, and AGI surges as the colonial powers seek to expand their colonial holdings. The first true interstellar armed forces appear during this era. The System Alliance implements its first First Contact QRF units inside 2nd and 3rd Fleet and stations the first Frontier Guard units.

 **2143 – 2167 | The Third Expansion:** Pushing up to 15,000 Lightyears and transiting into the Orion-Cygnus Arm proper, the Third Expansion begins almost as soon as the Second One has ended. A burgeoning colonial industry demands regular exploration, expansion and colonial exploitation to remain stable, and even the greater and greater expanses of Space are unable to seriously inhibit mapping and expansion of the Relay network under transhuman control. Control over "The Bridge" into the Orion-Cygnus arms and the fact that the Chinese People's Confederation, European Stellar Federation and United Interstellar States of America control the major expansion arms leads into the First Interstellar War, the first and last true "World War" among the stars, and transhumanities sixth civilization-spanning conflict. Nonetheless, the Third Expansion continues as the powers search for new territories and Relay avenues, in desperate bids to change the economic and strategic picture.

 **2154 |** _ **Daisuke Aramaki**_ **is born:** Daisuke Aramaki is born in Tokyo Bay Seacology, Sol, Japan to Takyuki and Arei Aramaki.

 **2156 | Aramaki's move to the pacific Japanese holdings:** Due to his farthers role in the military, the Aramaki's move to one of Japans pacific seacology holdings.

 **2161 | The Aramaki's move to the frontier:** The Arakami's move to the japanese frontier near the Core systems after Takayuki Aramaki re-enlists as an officer with the Japanese Space Defense Force.

 **2164 – 2166 | First Interstellar War:** The First (and only major) Interstellar War breaks out between all powers; intense battles over garden worlds and Relay avenues ensue.

 **May 2165 |** **Takyuki Aramaki returns home from the front:** Heavily wounded in action, Takyuki Arakami returns home from the battlefelds of the Interstellar War. The image of his broken farther and the violence transhumans unleash against each other mark the young Aramaki for life.

 **…: 2165 – 2197 | The New Renaissance :…**

 **2170 – 2193 | The Fourth Expansion:** The Fourth Expansion pushes now-transhuman boundaries into more organic shapes; many previous Relay avenues "dry up", leaving only a few primary arms to expand along. The full Internationalization of The Bridge from the Orion Spur into the Orion-Cygnus arm and the discovery of The Log, a small but effective route from the Arcturus Core into the Orion-Cygnus Arm trailward of The Bridge, heralds the colonization of the Orion arm proper, which swallows up most of transhumanities colonisation efforts. Many development efforts begin to focus inwards as the major powers seek larger internal consolidation before pushing onward. The breakout of the Outer Fringe War and an associated massive flare in colonial independence movements stiffle, then stop the fourth expansion, and its final resume before 2193 is a weak twitch of a once powerful force. Internal stability and growth is regarded as more important than sheer expansion.

 **25** **th** **June 2172 |** _ **Thomas Ishikawa**_ **is born:** Thomas Ishikawa is born on the New Los Angeles Space habitat at Site 11, Earth-Luna L3, Sol to Williams and Janette Ishikawa.

 **11** **th** **April 2176 |** _ **Jane Shepard**_ **is born:** Jane Shepard is born aboard the medical vessel SSV Samaritan-VI to Hannah and Chris Shepard.

 **11** **th** **April 2178 |** _ **Motoko Kusanagi**_ **is born:** Motoko Kusanagi is born in Kyōto, Earth, Sol to Ishian and Miya Kusanagi.

 **2182 – 2185 | Arcturus Station Phase 4 expansion:** Arcturus Station is expanded with two O'Neil cylinders for civilian population, transferring the core of three Stanford tori and one Bernal sphere entirely over to the military and SA administration.

 **2180 | Daisuke Aramaki joins the Systems Alliance military:** After education and a university study, Daisuke Aramaki decides to make good on his wow to serve all transhumanity, and joins the Systems Alliance military as a peacekeeper and gets on track to become an intelligence specialist.

 **2191 | Aramaki is offered a position with the Systems Alliance Frontier Guard:** Aramaki is offered a position with the Systems Alliance Frontier Guard due to his exemplary record with the Peacekeepers and Systems Alliance military; he accepts, and begins the long introduction training to join the Guard.

 **2195 | Ishikawa joins the Systems Alliance military:** At age 24, and after four years of studying DNI-based programming and hacking, Ishikawa joints the Systems Alliance Armed Forces, seeking to escape the crowded live of the New Los Angeles habitat and the Solar system and experience the frontier with his own eyes. Due to this digital expertise, Ishikawa is quickly assigned as a Cyberwarfare Expert and Drone Controller out of Basics.

 **2196 | Motoko Kusanagi joints the Japanese military:** At age 20, Motoko Kusanagi joins the Japanese Colonial Defense Force (JCDF) as a Private.

 **2196** _ **| Liam Saito**_ **is born:** Liam Saito is born in Kaisata City on Eden Prime to Ken and Sarah Saito.

 **March 2197 | Ishikawa assigned to Xin Shanxi:** Ishikawa and his 22nd Cyber- and Drone Warfare is assigned as regular reinforcements to the Frontier Guard on the planet Xin Shanxi, in preparation for the opening of a nearby Relay.

 **April 2197 |Relay 314 Incident:** The opening of the TCST-6552 Relay near Xin Shanxi backfires horribly on its transhuman explorers - An alien patrol detects the transhuman spacecraft on approach to the Relay and opens fire after sending several transmissions. All but one starship, a Chinese Light Frigatte, are destroyed on-site, which retreats to Xin Shanxi. A chinese QRF in the region reacts to calls for help and finds and destroys several Alien spacecraft in the cluster - At the same time, a System Alliance QRF arrives at Xin Shanxi. Just in time. Two days later, a new alien flotilla attacks Xin Shanxi directly, leading to a prolonged engagement in the outer system. The Alien Flotilla retreats, chased part of the way by System Alliance Forces.

 **April 2197 – July 2197 | "First Contact War":** The "First Contact War" becomes transhumanity's first conflict with an alien power. After an incident at the TCST-6552 Relay which leads to conflict, a limited but destructive war rages in the space region around Xin Shanxi and near Xin Beijing over the next months. Xin Shanxi becomes the axle point of the conflict. The conflict ends with The Repulsion lead by the System Alliance 2nd Fleet which ends in a lengthy space engagement over and around Shanxi, shortly thereafter followed by Council intervention into the conflict. Overall, the conflicts costs hundreds of thousands of sophonts their lives – Including thousands of transhuman real deaths through the destruction both stacks and back-up centers. The incident will remain a diplomatic sour point for years to come.

 **2196 – 2201 | The "Fourth-One-Half" Expansion:** Originaly thought of as the "fifth expansion", the Fourth-one-half Expansion was cut short by the First Contact War. Its final three years post-war were spend with carefully mapping out connections from transhuman space into the larger galaxy, and opening these connections, connecting transhuman space to the larger galactic community. The Howling Waste Straight, Citadel Corridor and Styx Straight are discovered during the final years of this connection, establishing transhumanities major connections to turian, citadel and batarian space; more connections into the Traverse and Salarian space are some of the last discoveries before the Fourth-one-half expansion ends in 2201. The remaining transhuman growth during this time was focused in future boarder regions, especially near turian space, in preparation for a possible war in the near future.

 **…: 2198 |The Galactic Age :…**

 **2198: The Great Unification:** Faced with the obvious problem of either standing together or hanging separately, and with the spectre of a potential future turian attack still on the Horizon, The Great Unification sees the System Alliance finaly and totaly becoming transhumanities government, everywhere. The Systems Alliance Parliament, Senate, and House are elected by all transhumans across space as their representatives for the first time.

 **16** **th** **April 2198 | Christian Togusa is born:** Christian Togusa is born to Jannete and Adam Togusa on Nouveau Paris Space colony, Arcturus.

 **November 2198 | The first Systems Alliance government:** Anitta Keyes is elected Prime Minister of the System Alliance. Xu Roenhorst is elected President of the System Alliance.

 **2204 | Jane Shepard joins the SAAF Espatiers:** Jane Shepard joins the Systems Alliance Armed Forces Espatiers at age 26. She is quickly singled out as a talented soldier who is enduring, motivated, quick on her feet and very intelligent. She is fast-tracked and considered for Spaceborne Special Forces.

 **2210 – Current Day | The Fifth Expansion (ongoing):** The Fifth Expansion is marked by transhuman expansion into the Verge territories; it is also humanities first expansion by force and into partially explored territory. At the same time, core transhuman space experiences further expansion of FTL-bound colonies as colonial support industries search for new targets. As of 2232, the fifth Expansion is still ongoing.

 **2210 | Systems Alliance becomes Associate Member of the Citadel Alliance:** In a publicaly suprising move, the System Alliance becomes an accepted Associate Member of the Citadel Alliance only 13 years after a violent First Contact.

 **2211 |Aramaik becomes director of Section 9:** Aramaki is officially promoted to the Director of Public Security Section 9, after a four-year tenure as Director of Operations. He begins a massive re-vamp and expansion of the organization, believing he will have to expand his organizations capabilities to a galactic scale.

 **2214 |Batou joints the SAAF 455** **th** **Rangers:** Batou joins the SAAF 455th Rangers, a traditionaly UIAS unit, at age 23. His superiors single him out as a good, if sometimes simple soldier.

 **2215 | Kusanagi assigned to 501** **st** **Special Cyberoperations Unit:** Motoko Kusanagi is re-assigned to the System Alliance 501st Special Cyberoperations, short 501st Special CyberOps, an all full-conversion Cyborg and AGI team with fully or near-fully synthetic Shells. The now reinforced and expanded 501st is reassigned to Battle Command Hades and stationed with the Alliance 6th Fleet at Fort Armstrong Sentry, in the spinward former American holdings that now border on the Stynx Straight.

 **4** **th** **April 2220 | The Raid on Mindoir:** Batarian Hegemony proxies execute their biggest coup to date; a mass enslavement raid on the transhuman colony of Mindoir, founded by the Systems Alliance only two years before with salarian aid. Hundreds of thousands of Sophonts are abducted.

 **2220 | The First Verge War breaks out:** A first, largely proxy-driven war errupts between the Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony. It ends with an enforced peace treaty only 6 months later. The future battle lines have been drawn. The Cold Verge War begins.

 **2225 | Christian Togusa joins StarPol:** Christian Togusa joints Starpol as an Investigator and Analysist out of University at Nouveau Paris, and moves to Arcturus Station. He soon proliferates himself with cracking cases involving the complexity of modern interstellar logistics for physical and digital transfers of items of interest.

 **23** **rd** **May 2226 | Attack on Elysium:** A massive fleet attacks the new interstellar colony of Elysium, designed as a massive up-front surprise strike that will escalate into a full-blown war with the Systems Alliance. The attack fails due to intelligence fore-warning and preparations on the side of the Systems Alliance. The Second Verge War breaks out.

 **2227 | Operation BROKEN ANVIL strikes at Torfan:** Operation BROKEN ANVIL is the lead-up SAAF Special Forces Infiltration and Assault of Torfans Anti-Space and Anti-Aerospace Artillery system. The strike is an almost-disaster, leading to heavy casulties among the transhuman special forces team. Only a dual embittered assault on the central Torfan bunker complex avoids a route and decapacitates the batarian command on the moon completely. The legends of the infamous "The Butcher of Torfan" and "The Ghost of Torfan" are born.

 **2228 |Motoko Kusanagi recruited into Section 9:** Motoko Kusanag is recruited into Public Security Section 9 by Aramaki to lead a new Anti-Infowarfare Task Force and a highly skilled and capable Mission Team, Alpha-01. Over the next years, Kusanagi begins recruiting a set of Specialists for her Task Force and Mission Team.

 **October 2231 | Togusa recruited into Section 9:** On the request of Motoko Kusanagi, Togusa is recruited by Aramaki himself for Public Security Section 9, and joins Mission Team Alpha-01 as an Investigative Specialist

 **March 2232 | The Events of Ascendance begin...**

* * *

 **A/N (Sevoris):** So, that is the timeline of Ascendance as established so far, with many major and minor events in them (if still, not fully complete.) Aaand it's almost 7K words. No wonder this monster made computers crash, in retrospect. :V

With the timeline out of the way, comes the far easier transference of all the worldbuilding entries we already have… after I finish writing an update for Ghost in the Shell: Ascendance, that is.

See you all the next time, and remember: You can always ask us.

Feedback and Discussion is always welcome, too!


	3. 3 - Stellartography of Transhuman space

**GALACTIC CODEX  
**

 _ **Galactic cartography /Transtranshuman space**_  
 **Basic stellartography of transhuman space**

For the average reader from Citadel Space, the stellartography of transtranshuman space may be a bit confusing at first - Unfamiliar and new land as it is.

Transhuman space is organized around the core Relay Hub of "Arcturus", located 36 lightyears from the transhuman home system of Sol and their home planet Earth. Arcturus is one of the few "Alpha" Relay hubs documented galaxy-wide - It bundles a whole three secondary Relays and a, by normal standards, staggering seven Primary Relays in a singular star system. These seven Relays form the base of the "arms" that extend from Arcturus, and also form the seven "branches" (technically more, but all branching routes come from these seven) of transhuman space.

The "arms" of transhuman space were defined by the early, national exploration, colonization and general space control efforts of transhuman nations during the 2600s [ACF] forward [2100 A.D. transhuman gregorian calendar). Several major superpowers soon established, once sufficiently expanded away from Arcturus in terms of primary Relays (one to two primary relay transfers from Arcturus was the norm) their own controlled spaces. As transhumans explored the Relay network of their space during their First and Second Expansions, these first systems expanded into "arms" on the galactic maps - Which gave these former (now technically defunct through in some capacity still existing) national territories in space their name which persists to this day. Major arms are the Chinese Arm (which was later split into the inner and outer arm after The Bridge became enforced international space), the European Arm, the American Arm, the Indian Arm, the African Arm, the Indonesian Arm, the South American Arm, the Pacific Arm, and the Russian Arm. Other minor arms exist.

Other minor and major powers also created smaller and larger "pockets" of national space - These form "clusters" and were especially found around Sol, Arcturus and other systems, including more open junctions such as Dejong Hub, New Kopenhagen or New York Sentry. The densest concentration of Clusters can be found in the transhuman Core, followed by the Orion Spur, which form the core and by now largely most developed areas of transhuman space.

The "rings" refer to structures also encountered in Citadel space, especially in the proximity of important Relay hubs. These lateral connections of primary and secondary Relays connect major Relay routes, ringing around Hubs in certain distances, and thus provide shortcuts between important arms. They also serve to branch of further Relay connections.

Transhuman space technically has four rings, though only two of these rings are complete and are both located in the Orion Spur. The third and fourth ring are incomplete due to the separation between Orion Spur and the Orion-Cygnus arm. The second arm also serves as an important spin-trail connection path on the coreward side of transhuman space.


	4. 4 - Technology Codex 1

_**Technology / Digital and Augmentations**_  
 **Trigraphics**

Trigraphics is the common name for any form of volumetric graphic system - With other words, any visual projection system that creates true, volumetric images not just, like holographic displays, the waveform illusion of depth. Trigraphics find employment in manifold fields - their only disadvantage is that placing a solid object (or dense atmosphere or a lot of scattering particles) between the projection aperture and the designated projection space disrupts the image accordingly to the obscuring of the connecting line between the projected Voxel (a 3D "Pixel") and the Projection aperture. Apertures also have, like any projector, a projection angle that limits how closely to the projector a large trigraphic may be displayed.

In praxis, these problems are circumvented by using lots of trigraphic projection systems, linked together into a single trigraphic display entity. This ensures solid trigraphics are displayed even with many people dynamicaly moving inside or around the projection volume and the projection cones. Coupled with appropriate sensors and software, trigraphic displays become input-capable, and when coupled with other technologies such as photosolids (exploiting exotic phenomena to make photons able interact with matter) or haptic interface systems, they can return sensation as well. Also, trigraphics are perfect projections - Unless rendered so, modern trigraphics are indistinguishable from real objects. As such utility applications often add special effects to indicate the object in question is a trigraphic.  
The civilian uses of trigraphics are enormous and in the current era find usage everywhere; modern trigraphic projection nodes are some of the cheapest electronic components despite their sophistication, and worked into everything from architecture over household items and electronics to vehicles and clothing. Trigraphics are used as interfaces and for projection of everything from media over status information and signs to commercials, are used for camouflaging other objects with trigraphic projections (enabling fanciful "door opening" animations that hide the simple sliding doors underneath, for example), or to generally enrich areas (i.e. household trigraphic animals such as birds).

Military trigraphics are mostly used in Decoy systems and special camouflage systems; trigraphics in general find employment in easily accessable interface systems, though the military often prefers isolated, networked AR interfaces as these are only visible to their users and don't have an optic signature. In the civilian sphere they are preferred because, unlike AROs, trigraphic projection contents are significantly harder to block out and also visible to people without AROs.

 **Augmented Reality Overlays (ARO)**

AROs are the standard in Augmented Reality vision delivery to the end user, merging all form of Augmented Reality, such as Augmented Reality Overlay Windows (AROW), Augmented Reality Interfaces (ARI) and Augmented Reality Entoptics into a singular visual channel that is superimposed on the users vision. The ARO compiles and manages the flow of Augmented Reality data to the user in order to avoid data overload and centralize AR render handling for better control and lower latencies; an aspect especially important with the military but now also civilian society, as the amount of information in the Augmentality has by far surpassed what a human is able to visually process.

Over 99% of transhumans have AROs in some form of capacity; children and teenagers commonly through external devices such as contact lenses or Specs, as implants are a challenging prospect in growing brains and bodies, for fully grown individuals commonly in the form of visual nerve shunts, augmented eyes, or head-in overlays feeds that feed ARO visuals directly into the visual cortex. The latter is the absolute cutting-edge of ARO technology, enabling higher content saturation and more effective, instinctive delivery of visual information to the human brain, but also requires an extensive visual cortex DNI to work.

The practical uses of AROs extend from "dashboard" interfaces over geo-attached entoptics that deliver both information and hide the real world under AR visuals to overlays that can render otherwise hidden information such as electrical activity, the layout of cables and pipes under a road, or the internal organs of a person. They are also used anywhere where visual information flow is desired to be private - ARO visual data is only visible to those to which it is shared, a significant advantage for military forces or private meetings who want to reduce their visual footprint, exchanging it for a secure ARONet.

 **Personal Area Network (PAN)**

Likened to "a person's own Intranet", the Personal Area Network constitutes the standardized networking of all digital components within, on and in close proximity of a person's shell - implants, augmentations, personal devices such as Omnitools or tablets, carried computers, Specs, weapons, equipment, clothing, and everything else with digital interfacing capabilities over either hardwired connections, induction, or NFC. PANs are usually designed on "Onion shell" schemes - Isolating important systems from other data systems to avoid hacking of vital systems - This is often realized with physical isolation and special network switches as well as very tightly written Operating Systems. Details depend on the system in question.  
Other parts are similarly cordoned off from each other, and can be locked out. PANs are also heavily encrypted and protected by special defensive software; people with full cyberbrains and associated DNIs carry special defense and attack barriers to attack against hacks.

 **Personnal Body Network (PBN)**

The PBN is only found with hybrid Shells, and is an isolated network that handles communication between all augmentations - From sensor and motor communication and ports to advanced functionalities, data sharing, diagnostics, and logistics, utilities and coordination. It can also be likened to a second nervous and hormone system for a person's augs and implants. PBNs use a variety of standardized protocols to tie augs into the network, and have an extensive API suite to interface new implants and add functionalities. The PBN runs isolated from other systems, theoretically only accessible through the nervous system the PBN is ultimately connected to; connections to the PAN are isolated or heavily gated to avoid attack programs being able to infiltrate the sensitive and life-supporting functionalities of the PBN. 

_**Technology / Physics**_  
 **Countermass Technology (CouMass/CM/"cee-eem")**

Countermass Technology is a sub-branch of Eezonics (eezo-based technology akin to "Electronics") that deals with the manipulation of realized mass. Countermass Tech is used for purposes such as lightening objects, be it for acceleration, transportation or relaxation, or making them heavier, be it for restraining/anchoring of matter, production of alloys, or the manifold other purposes. While a simple countermass effect can be realized simply by applying a charge to an eezo core, like many modern eezonic tech countermass technology uses dedicated modulators, generators, waveguides and projectors to efficiently project perfectly shaped countermass fields with the desired geometry and internal property. Cee-eem Generators are the heart of Countermass Tech - Special field generators that use an integrated eezo core to draw a desired Mass Effect Field (formally a Ryan-Xian field) and then shape it as required. The amount of mass suppression or amplification can be chosen within the resolution of the generator system; field shape, mass change, rate of field property changes and such are dependent on the specific generator design.

Cee-eem fields come in two variants - "Stable" and "degenerate" fields. Stable fields are used in most applications, and involve relative changes of mass - To an observer inside a field, the mass will remain unchanged (as long as the field has a clean gradient), and only from the outside, a change in mass can be observed. Degenerate CouMass fields on the other hand involve field geometries that can cause such states such as Particle collapse due to too much mass (used in Singularity Projectors) or subatomic disintegration as particles are lightened to near-infinity (So-called Disintegration Fields.) Degenerate CouMass fields are either dangerous or lethal, and only employed in cee-eem-based weapons.


	5. 5 - Technolog Codex 2

**Shell Suits**

Some of the greatest challenges of designing equipment for the modern transhuman soldier are the ever-increasing platform capability requirements. From strength to speed to resilience to endurance to computation power to carrying ability to sensor systems to weapons to protection and many other criteria, modern militaries demand more and more capabilities of their soldiers.

The requirements have begun surpassing what can feasibly be mounted into a humanoid platform that still actually looks human - The human body offers only so much volume, can only be so heavy and so large before the operator becomes unable to fit into normal transhuman society; and few operators poses the mental fortitude to use full-spec Combat Shells the entire time and life with the social consequences. Remote control or Cyberbrain transfers are options - But take time or expose vulnerabilities, especially in the field. A common solution found to this problem is customized Cyborg armor - So called Shell Suits, sometimes also called "Third Skin".

Shell Suits are designed to lock into otherwise hidden mounting points on the cyborg user; the mounting points are spread over limbs, torso, neck and head, and include structural, power, and data connectors. The Shell suit thus locks into the Cyborgs endo- and exoskeletal structure and its power- and data network, augmenting the power network and ensuring a tight kinetic lock while synchronizing and sharing data with the Cyborgs Personal Body Network (PBN) and Personal Area Network (PAN). The Shell suits themselves include all the desired capabilities not installable in the normal Cyborg frame - Additional manipulator limbs, artificial muscles and other actuators, larger power cells and generators, integrated weapons, heavier armor, sensors, computers, transceivers, etc. At times Shell Suits are coupled with quick-changing limbs; only the Cyborg torso and head is retained, while new limbs are built into the Shell suits design.

Shell Suits of some type are common equipment for those Cyborg with sufficient conversion ratios to use them and the need for these systems - Special Forces are thus the most common users of Shell suits, due to their requirement for a massive set of augmented capabilities.

* * *

 **Lockheed Cybernetics Stalker-M6**

Produced by the American Hypercorp Lockheed Cybernetics, in the business of producing Power Armor and military Augmentations since the 2050s, the Stalker-M6 is a cutting-edge Special Forces Shell suit that was specifically designed for Special Forces operating in the Verge during the 2220s.

The Stalker-M6 is a comparatively light and "skinny" suit among Shell suits of the 2220s and 2230s, aimed to reduce mass and user profile for better stealth. The suit has no hard outer shell, instead using flexible armor and kinetic barriers for protection; most hard protection is focused in the torso, shoulders, upper arms and legs, with the limbs instead profiting from thicker strands of artificial muscle balanced between strength and speed, while also being able to stiffen as additional armor and extremely resilient to stabbing penetration. A light linear frame provides servo motor support and weight redistribution around the occupant, allowing the user to exert his muscles more for motion and less for holding weight.

The surface of the suit incorporates a hardened thermoptic camouflage system designed for near-perfect camouflage through the incorporation of active metamaterials atop of the visual-thermal holographic systems, enabling the thermoptic camouflage to spoof lasers, LIDAR, and radar. Furthermore, the system has multiple layers to function even with battle damage to the suit, and has self-repair capabilities atop of that, though the suit cannot rebuild the metamaterials quickly or under adverse environmental conditions.

The main focuses of the Stalker-M6 are mobility, utility, and infosupremacy. It incorporates a primary jump pack with four main thrusters (two at the shoulders, two at the lower end of the units integrated backpack) as well as a distributed network of secondary thrusters for full mobility, backed up by an integrated EMLense propulsion system and integrated Cee-eem system for mass control. For scaling the unit has arm- and backpack-mounted grappling cable extruder units, an integrated Special Forces-rated Ascension rig, and almost full-body Geckopad coverage including several Flexible Attachment Actuator Units for securing the suit in place without the use of the arms.

Cyberwarfare capability is provided by a Distributed Processing Environment worked into the suit, augmented by several larger nodes in the suit torso and an integrated backpack that includes four AIPUs and two QPUs, with one of the later specialized for encryption cracking. Between hemispheric laser communication nodes, a skin-integrated Phased Array Antenna system and other antennas of various length distributed throughout the suit linked to a multi-channel communication suite for wireless communications and several integrated, independent-actuated teragate connectors at the hands, feet and the neck, the Stalker-M6 is able to connect with almost any system, jam enemy communications, and dominate the electromagnetic spectrum over long ranges without any other external gear.

For utility the Stalker-M6 offers both magnetic and van-der-waals attachment systems complete with a thermoptic smart envelope system that extrudes as required to hide weapons and equipment that is attached externally; the suit offers integrated 'flaged pouches and a large backpack with additional thermoptic envelope to ensure the user has full thermoptic camo even if not all equipment has been 'flaged separately. The suit also integrates dual Omniblades with full fabricator, launcher and effector support, and one larger backpack-integrated unit for fabricating larger parts or systems in the field, offering everything from basic field engineering over a variety of combat gadgets quick-fabricated and launched to replacement ammunition to utilities such as Nanothread Electronics Subversion and multi-sensing transopter systems. Other suit-integrated sensors include a full helmet-mounted electro-optical vision system with backscatter and T-ray wall scanning, active LIDAR imaging and spectrographics, heartbeat and Body Electrical Field sensors, chemical noses for detecting scent and chemicals, and an onbard bilogical identification system that can detect and analaysis bioweapons among other things.

There are several users of the Stalker-M6 among System Alliance Special Forces; one premier user of the M6 was the 501st Special CyberOps 1st and 2nd Company, both of which were involved heavily during the Verge War, including the Battle for Torfan. This has created a solid reputation for the Stalker-M6, and its enclosed visor with its spread of tiny optical sensors is a feared image with Verge pirates, slavers and Mercs.


	6. 6 - Technology Codex 3

**TECHNOLOGY / MILITARY**  
 **Combat Hardsuit - Overview**

If there is one iconic military technology and Personal Combat System that has been in the center of galactic popular media since the interstellar ages of its culture, it is the combat hardsuit, the modern Battledress of the galactic warfighter.

Combat hardsuits unify all sorts of capabilities the modern warfighter requires: Protection from the environment and weapons fire; sensor capabilities and digital systems; medical support and performance enhancements, camouflage and utilities, all on a modular platform.

Modern combat hardsuits are all powered in some manner; most support hybrid-powered configurations mostly aimed at negating the armor's weight as well as that of carried equipment; for specific situations, the power systems can be boosted in order to wrench open doors, carry heavy gear, or otherwise use enhanced strength and speed.

Every soldier is issued a Personal Undersuit, short PUS, upon proceeding through his, her, zhe or nais military service; the PUS is the single piece of completely custom-fitted gear the soldier receives; subsequent military systems build of the custom-fitting compensation of the PUS. The PUS provides essential medical, "housekeeping" and utility support; it regulates temperature, keeps the skin clean, renders advanced first aid (excluding surgery, but including CPR, massages, pressure application and smart glove wound dressing, healing infrared radiation and direct medical agent deployment), includes custom-fitted catheters for relief, and also includes medical sensors and a transducer neural interface used for transmitting sensation to the user as well as detecting muscle and peripheral neural activity (used for controlling exoskeletons and other power enhancement systems as well as addressing a omnitool or other computer system. ) For augmented soldiers, this layer also includes electronic and possibly, mechanical interfaces with their augmentations.

Though the standardized mechanical connectors of the PUS, the Hardsuit Support Undersuit, HSUS, is connected. This hardsuit-specific undersuit contains more specific support functions - Pressure support, ABCN sealing, flexible armor, powered undersuit capability (in the case of light Hardsuits especially), the main Distributed Computing Environment of the hardsuit, and the attachment points for the "Shell" of the hardsuit, made up of its harder, non-flexible components.

The Shell of the hardsuit finally introduces load-bearing structures (today, even light hardsuits include leg LBS to take the weight of legs, torso and backpack of the user's body), any other integrated linear frames, structural rigging and attachment points, the heavy-duty armor (ceramic, diamondoid or otherwise) as well as kinetic barrier projection, power supply, the HardComp with its diamanoid storage and quantum computer crystal, life support units, and any other hard-integrated capabilities such as jetpacks. The Shell also includes the helmet of the hardsuit.

The Outersuit finally is commonly pulled over together with the Shell; its only role is emission control and camouflage, as well as providing a second layer of sealing against environmental effects such as dust, fluids, or ionizing radiation.

Tactical rigging is strapped to the outside of the Hardsuit by way of universal points and smart-extruding attachment strips that connect with each other; the rigs contain any SmartPaks, pouches, and external gear of the soldier.

Modern hardsuits are divided into three main categories.  
Light Hardsuits are lightweight protection solutions that prioritize low weight and general footprint; they have minimal power support (with strap-on exoskeletons worn externally as otherwise there would not be enough space for the complex shoulder joint systems, among other things) and their power support is provided through undersuits as well as weight-neutralizing countermass systems. They are prefered by infiltrators, assassins and asari commandos; various salarian commando units and cyborgs also prefer light Hardsuits. On the plus side, their largely unpowered nature means light hardsuits do not need and thus do not generate or store much power; they have a consequently low EM and infrared footprint. Armor on light hardsuits is more designed around damage mitigation than outright absorption; there is not enough volume or weight for serious armor solutions that would provide effective protection against high-hypervelocity threats or energy weapons. Barriers are the main protection of light hardsuits.

Medium Hardsuits are the common infantry standard, though they have started to be phased out completely on the mainline - They have integrated Linear frames, ceramic armor with anti-spalling fibre mantling and alloy bracing, backstopped by piezogel and trauma plating, powerful kinetic barriers and can support a solid load of tactical rigging as well as strap-on combat systems. Modern Medium Hardsuits almost qualify as full Powered Armor in their own right, though they do not support constant or heavy power amplification.

Heavy Hardsuits are all powered combat systems that use linear frames instead of muscle suits for primary actuation, and in the modern age are too heavy for use without powered support or augmentations; these suits can support the framework of modern diamonoid armor and its kinetic backstop layers that enable the user within to survive the kinetic transfer of munition impacts; they can also support the power and cooling requirements of heavy, multi-layer barriers. Heavy Hardsuits in common use are slow and "tanky"; Special Forces Hardsuits bypass this through more powerful power systems and CM support, making Heavy Hardsuits surprising Lightning Bruisers.

What makes Hardsuits distinct from other systems is their general utility and relatively compact Power factor; they feature no waldos or other remote actuators and are thus "skin-fitting" within a definition.

Over the last decades, due to increasing proliferations in combat cyborgs and a need to match them, Combat Hardsuits have undergone constant evolution and broadening in categories and sub-classes; a general trend towards making Hardsuits heavier and more powered has materialized, with even modern "light" hardsuits developing capabilities and weight classes more commonly found in old Medium hardsuits.


	7. 7 - Technology Codex 4

**ENTERTAINMENT / TRANSHUMANITY**  
 **StimBots**

The recreational use of neuroactive substances has a historical foundation in every culture, whether planetbound or interstellar. As technological sophistication increases, the customization of such neuroactive stimulators increases; the stimulations and neuronal processing changes are increasingly fine-tuned in the pursuit of greater and greater exotic stimuli.

Nanotechnological solutions like StimBots arguably represent the end of centuries of chemical pursuits. While similar systems exist across all cultures, the modern transhuman-produced systems are some of the most capable on the white and black market, with unrivaled neuro-coding and resulting experiences. Stimbots are commonly aero- and tissue-motile nanorobotic systems with the capability to locate themselves within a larger organism before seeking out designated nerves as a temporary nanoswarm entity and execute their simulative-manipulative programming there, before shutting down and being removed from the body together with normal cellular waste. Operative time of the swarm once absorbed is limited by simple battery capacity, though high-quality models with some conversion capability can operate for hours before shutting down.

StimBots are commonly delivered either with arial vapors inhaled through mouth and nose, or applied in patches, gels or oils to the skin, commonly in the neck and head area. Other less common delivery methods are laced foodstuffs (chewing gum is a common delivery medium) or enriched fluids such as drinks or, in the largest cases, baths. Once alerted to the presence of a host through a variety of biometric measurments (commonly body heat, specific odor components and bioelectric fields) and/or a management host in the local Mesh directing the StimBots to the target area, the nanorobots seek out optimal patches for absorption into the host. At this point in time the bots establish the so-called "Host Mesh" and become a dedicated nanoswarm entity. Afterwards, the bots seek out the designated nerves and neuronal clusters before executing their program.

The effects SimBots can cause are mostly limited by the effectors, operational duration, and computing capability of the StimBot system used; while in theory StimBots can act just like common chemical drugs (and are sometimes used in this capacity) the true potential of these sophisticated (and, compared to chemical stimulants, expensive) stimulators lies in very sophisticated neuronal programs that cause intense hallucinations, changes in perception, and complex experiences. They can also be used to adjust moods, hormone levels, and character to a certain extend; and peripheral stimulations allow such things such as strange tastes and smells, warmth or cold on the skin, or strange prickling sensations. However, StimBots cannot create the perceptive effects of the more invasive neural wiring systems, limited by system architecture and output resolution.

By modern transhuman law, the use of public StimBots is limited; invasive neuronal stimulations without consent are forbidden and are considered possible capital punishment, depending on the effects. Other effects, heavy dependency or extreme neurological behavior alterations, are likewise forbidden. These software programs however, remain popular on the black market, and there exist hacked StimBoit programs with DRM and dependency-causing programming specifically designed to drive users into dependency for the StimBots used.

The use of transhuman StimBot coding in Citadel space has slowly expanded; the Citadel StimBot scene has exploded with new ideas and concepts for alien and transhuman users, including "perception cross-wiring" stimulations.

* * *

 **Stimulative Neurowriring**

Stimulative Neurowriring is a type of effecting DNI designed specifically to engineer exotic, non-standard neurological activities and perceptions into the user. Either cybernetically woven using Nano construction techniques, generated using micro- and nanomachine interface entities, or created through force-grown xeno-neuronal network, the forms of perception, consciousness and general neuronal alteration that can be effected by modern SNW is essentially limitless. Common techniques range from adjustment of neuronal behavior to splicing of signals into non-standard pathways to "cross-wiring" where visual signals are routed into the auditory cortex or touch into the visual cortex, to complex neuronal stimulations that cause temporary awareness splits, alterations in consciousness, or awaken primal parts of the transhuman brain. Synthetic induction of abnormal neuronal states such as synesthetic wiring or near-death experiences is also one possibility.

SNW should not be confused with other recreational neurosystems such as Experience Playbacks or Perception Links.

* * *

 **Neurocommunicative Link / "Link"**

Often simply called "links", Neurocommunicate Links are special Neuron-to-Neuron interfaces that enable two Egos to communicate essentially every aspect of themselves with each other; skills, memories, thoughts, perception, and others. Links were originally precursors of the modern Congruence Neuronal Linkage systems that enable deep ego communication, but evolved from there into sophisticated and modifiable ways of enabling deep Mind-to-Mind communication.

Modern Links can be modified, shaped and regulated through a variety of so-called Link Programs, which control detailed parameters and envelopes of the Link; this enables the creation of manifold varied link experiences.

The use of Links on transhuman society is handled as intimate, galactic-wise comparable to the Asari Links and Melds; commonly only partners engage in deep links for significant amounts of time. Similiarly to the Asari yet again, and now also in imitation of them, the primary use of links has been and remains during sexual activity or between partners.

* * *

 **TECHNOLOGY / NEUROTECH**  
 **Ego Congruence**

The most sophisticated form of neuronal linkage systems, Ego Congruences are temporary fusions of Egos into a so-called Congruence or "Meta-Ego", a unified and shared singular agent with superhuman thought and coordination capacity.

Congruences developed out of tactical Fusions, which were a previous solution for linking Egos at a deep level for shared thoughts and coordination (commonly used in think-tanks and in the military), but with the goal of completely synchronizing and fusing the participating Egos instead of just linking them. The resulting Meta-intelligence of such a process is extremely powerful, though it can only be maintained for a few hours before the participating Egos experience Ghost Deterioration and begin melding into a singular, shared intersect that cannot be safely separated into its participating Egos and their Ghosts anymore.

Congruences are easily identified through their framework. While Fusions are first and foremost Ego links, Congruences establish a new, AI-based entity all participating Egos are attached to; this "Overmind" forms of the core of the new consciousness and serves to unify and direct the actions of all participating egos in a rapid process of shaped neuro-evolution that is conducted during Pre-Congruence "Synchronization". Furthermore, Congruences often integrate other artificial agents into their frameworks. On spacecraft, where Congruences are used to drive actions, strategy, tactics and analysis during battle, commonly the entire AI backbone of the craft is integrated into the Congruence as well.

The only user of Congruences are the SAAF and foremost the Spacy; spacecraft offer the high-bandwidth hardlines, interface chairs and neuronal servers required to establish a successful congruence. Furthermore, congruences necessitate heavy interfacing on part of its participants - A full-brain Class-10 DNI is standard fitting for all transhuman Spacy personnel.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates; the last days have been extremely busy, and what time I had left went into writing Ascendance.


	8. 8 - An overview of AI types

**SYSTEMS ALLIANCE MINISTRY OF THE EXTERIOR**  
 **Office of Public Relations and Outreach**

Document 2231_05_26_PRO_CitSpa_AI_Overview_Rev45.4  
"Overview of Synthetic Intellect types"

 **Overview of Synthetic Intellect types**

* * *

There are many forms of Synthetic Intellects that transhumanity has developed and uses actively as part of our civilization. The massive amount of types, their designations and what exactly they are is often confussing to the uninitiated; furthermore there are missconceptions about the scope of use of several types, most often ASI and other Synthetic Superintelligences.

Here at the Office for Public Relations and Outreach, we want to provide you a good starting position on the topic of Synthetic Intellect types, providing you an informed overview of all forms from the lowly LAIs and other expert systems to the hypothetical top of ASIs, as well as what exactly an AGI is.

 **Overview**  
Transhuman AI systems can generaly be divided into three areas: Sub-Sophont, Sophont, and Supersophont cognitive ability. The percentage-wise use distributes itself similiarly - Most AIs used are Sub-Sophont systems with "limited purview" who can only handle specific responsibilities in specific areas of expertise. Sophont AIs fit a very narrow range of general-intelligence AIs that are, mentaly, no different from any other transhuman. They use neural networks to more than 90% in their holistic architecture, and are modelled specificaly after the natural sophonts of the transhuman family, most often the mind and brain of _Homo sapiens augmentum._ Any "superhuman" abilities of theirs are no more powerful than those of a trained and/or augmented transhuman mind, and indeed the two roles are effectively interchangable due to uploading. Supersophont AIs have been designed with extremely advanced cognitive abilities, but tend to be again restricted in purview as well as personality and learning ability. These are also limited by law inside the Systems Alliance.

* * *

 **Virtual Intelligences and Expert Sytems**  
Both of these do indeed find widespread use in transhuman space! Many problems do not require any kind of self-awarness or advanced functionality, and as such complex problem-solving trees and expert systems with limited neuronal logic are the perfect solution with the least processing power requirments, which makes them perfect for Mesh nodes, Spimes, Smart objects, and parts of emergency systems. They are also common low-level systems used in wider intelligent managment networks used in factories or other large-scale managment applications. Here, VIs and ES diagnose problems and execute directives from the more intelligent Intellects higher in the network.

* * *

 **Limited Artificial Intelligence (LAI)**  
LAIs are the most common type of Synthetic Intellects you will encounter in transhuman space. LAIs are limited-purview AIs who, while having sophont-baseline or even super-sophont abilities, have these abilities inherently restricted to specific areas. Their other abilities such as personality, intelligence/cognitive ability, empathy and skills can vary. As with VIs, this becomes apparent when confronted with outside-context problems, though LAIs are usualy intelligent enough to recognize this and post requests for intervention by other intelligences. Many LAIs are hosted as background agents inside the Mesh and Extranet, serving as Daemons who handle munciple tasks away from you. LAIs also pilot vehicles, run the majority of Cybershells and robotics, and serve as user interfaces of the larger AI network through specificaly designed and trained Sophont Interface LAIs.

While an LAI can be frightening on the surface due to its supersophont abilities in its purview, and those with transhuman interaction capability seem perfectly intelligent, this is unfunded. As you will note, all but Sophont Interface LAIs fail once you leave the area of casual conversation or deep topics concerning their specialty (philosophy is a common example.) They also have limited personalities if existent at all, they only take initiative to a certain degree, and their ability to learn and self-actuate is similiarly throttled or even non-existent, meaning LAIs cannot gain new skillsets. Some LAIs may even be frozen, with their neuronal networks allowing no new deviancy at all once shipped for use.

* * *

 **Clustered Limitated Artificial Intelligence(s) (CLAI)**  
CLAIs are a sub-type of LAIs, forming a type of Intellect Community. Here, LAIs are networked and coordinated by supervisor software to serve as a form of parallel problem solver. The CLAI is feed with a problem, which is analzyed and separated into sub-problems by a first stage of LAIs. The main amount of LAIs serves as processing clusters, conferencing and communicating while solving sub-problems, before synthesizing all of the partial solutions into the final, complete solution. The amount of required LAIs per problem is dynamicaly assigned as the solution develops.

CLAIs are a common approach to cracking complex problems without using the more complex, more powerful and harder to create and secure ASIs. They are unfortenately especially common in cyberwarfare and infocrime. However, due to their design, CLAIs cannot network into spontanous intelligences similiar to the Geth, as the limited communicaiton between AIs as well as the purview limitation of the LAIs keep a general intelligence mind from emerging out of the networking.

 **Muse**  
Muses are Personal Assistant LAIs with enhanced personality programming, empathy, and have been specificaly developed to learn from and forge a bond with their respective users. As such, they are very similiar, if cognitviely superior forms of the PAVIs you are familiar with.

Transhumans usualy grow up with a Muse from an early age on; first housed in external hardware and manifesting through coronal projection, trigraphics and other displays, at the time where cybernetic augmentation becomes possible the Muse is transfered onto the implanted PAN and can permanently connect to their partners mind directly via the DNIs installed. However, this bonding process is no prerequisite for a Muse; you can buy, install and aclimatize to a muse as easily as an adult or outsider! In fact, if you come to transhuman space, we offer you both the hardware and the software for a pre-loaded Muse.

Muses are important in transhuman society as discrete, personal assistants who handle background events, provide personal assistance, as well as general companionship. They handle large amounts of background coordination, and filter relevant and non-relevant information for you. If you are unfamiliar with an area, person or topic, they can also coach you and provide advise, especially if loaded with dedicated software modules for these tasks. They also make for great personal companions! You will never miss your PAVI after having had an actual intelligent conversation with your Muse.

 **ReprAIsentative**  
These AI constructs are personality simulation constructs generated by a muse and serving as your personal stand-ins for communications or events where you cannot be personaly present. ReprAIsentatives can emulate you with good accuracy (but no not represent personality forks) and generate Experience Recordings (XPs) or similiar formats that allow you to assimilate what they experienced in your stead. Their utility ranges from a clever "answering machine" to full-fledged stand-ins for you, especialy in virtual enviromnents. The longer you have been using a Muse, the more accurate a ReprAIsentative can be; the most realistic ones _can_ be "programmed" with prunned neuronal networks of you, for very accurate personality emulations. However, they depent on cloud processing power to various degrees, especialy the more sophisticated models.

 **Battlemind**  
"Battlemind" is a general term for LAIs that have been created for military purposes. Battleminds are some of the most general-purview LAIs that exist alongside Muses, due to their area of responsibility. BattlemindLAIs serve as the core of a network of lesser AIs that handle mobility, general target recognition, logistics, targeting and so on, and decide on all cases that require advanced cognition. They are growprammed in battlefield tactics and strategy, military ethics, advanced target discrimination, and command analysis and dissimination, as well as information warfare. Most transhuman Mechs and Warbots are driven by these LAIs, together with UCAVs, drone swarms, UCGVs and static installations and mines. More advanced models are instead driven by SAIs or AGIs instead, as limited-purview designs reach the boarders of AI design.

* * *

 **Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)**  
AGIs are fundamentaly just like you, sapient minds hosted on holistic architectures. In fact, transhuman AGIs are so similiar in format to a transhuman mind and the associated Infomorph format that they can be downloaded into biological brains without difficulty (though the software equivalent of neuronal augmentations can be lost unless physical equivalents are provided.) The core identifier of an AGI however remains that it can solve every problem within the range of the transhuman mind as well as that mind - the emulation of homo sapiens brain and holistic architecture was chosen both for familiarity and reference, and in order to ensure that AGIs, as the powerful intellects they are, can understand our perspective and we theirs - at least, mostly Many AGIs still have an upringing different from biological humans, and their ability to be exposed to digital enviroments directly and from an earlier age means they often have a higher affinity for digital data formats than transhuman children, adolescents or young adults (mentaly.) _Howver_ , no AGI is by itself a superhacker!

In fact, many of the AGIs that are created are patterned and sleeved as Bioroids, and as such have an intentionaly very transhuman upringing and perspective! They have a full range of emotions, empathy, and transhuman reasoning, and their neurological design sets both their massive power and is an inherent limiter on their native thinking power. An AGI is no more "smart" than a similarly augmented transhuman.

AGIs come in a selection of "classes" that donate their intelligence, independence, and learning ability. Class-I AGIs are fully sapient and recognized as sapient citizens in the Systems Alliance as well as in Citadel Space (even if with, unfortenately, opposition and discrimination.) Class-II and Class-III AGIs are semi-sapient designs hovering in the limbo between LAI, SAI and the Class-I AGIs. They have limited intelligence and specific psychological design that makes them ethicaly usable for jobs that require broad-area competence but would put a normal sapient in extreme stress. This folds in service roles and military operations. Class-II AGIs are also sometimes called "Savant AGIs" or "SAGIs" for short.

* * *

 _ **Homo sapiens silicio**_  
The most widespread pattern of AGI is _Homo Sapiens Silico_ ; transhuman minds created inside virtual créchee enviroments, raised for a period of 25 virtual years (créchee environs run at accelerated speeds, on average 25 times as fast as normal) then sleeved into grown bodies or virtual hosting enviroments for an initial 10-year contractor period. All modern bioroids have the mind of HSS sleeved into them; technicaly the technology as used from the on-set as the very first bioroids had their minds also created from digitalized templates that were imprinted over a period of months onto their brains before being trained in further.

 **Warmind**  
Warminds are Class-II (sometimes Class-I) AGIs created for military purposes, as an evolution of the LAI Battlemind concept. These AGIs are highly functional minds with inherent software components and an ability to think in a distributed manner over multiple hardware loci, making them highly redundant and able to integrate on a very deep level with their respective chassis.

Warminds are used to drive advanced armored vehicles, spacecraft, and other mainline military hardware in the SAAF, as well as for cyber support, logistics and tactics/strategy.

* * *

 **Artificial Superintelligences (ASI)**  
Artificial Superintelligences are for obvious reasons a hot topic in Citadel Space. You might be suprised to find out that they are also discussed regularly in transhuman space! We are very aware of the potential dangers posed by ASIs, especially very powerful variants with thousands of tens of thousands of transhuman cognitive equivalents (TCE), and as such ASIs are regulated in transhuman space, and their development and use is supervised with strict rules.

Most ASIs instantiated are weak AIs with a few dozen TCEs, created for supervisor work. These are differentiated from CLAIs or other AI networks mostly by latency and communication bandwith; the agents of a weak ASI (sometimes also called a WASI) are far heavier networked, and draw on a common neuro-evolution pool and personality core. But why use WASIs when we have CLAIs? The primary reason is so-called "synergistic workload". CLAIs are limited by the bandwith and abilties of the individual LAIs that make up the network; cross-skill networking tends to slow down such clusters considerably, and increase the amount of problem dissimiation and solution synthesis work that has to be done. A WASI, as an integrated entity, can draw upon a far more coherent and efficient problem-solving process.

Strong ASIs or TASIs are few and far between. Most of them are also Limited ASIs, short LASI, who have massive processing power put again, limited purview and limited areas of interest. These super-entities also lack a primary personality, emotions or developed empathy; they are designed as superintelligent cognitive agents and not sophonts. Only large organisations afford a LASI, if at all; overall under 100 LASI systems are instantiated for actual use inside transhuman space, with around 25-40 sytems being hosted for research and development purposes.

* * *

 **Seed ASI**  
A commonly talked about nightmare scenario are runaway superintelligences with the ability to rapidly learn, adapt and self-improve. We call such AIs "Seed ASIs". Contrary to rumors or beliefs, there exist no free-scaling Seed ASIs in transhuman space. Systems Alliance law requires that, the higher an ASIs TCE, the more its ability to learn and self-improve be throttled. Freely developing Seed ASI agents are transhuman security nightmares due to their hard to ascertain and maintain ethnical standards and goals, and so far there has been no breakthrough on the "benevolent God" model of a Seed ASI that could be garuanteed to remain safe when allowed to undergo rapid self-improvement.

* * *

 **Emergent AIs**  
Are there emergent AIs in transhuman space? Yes, (un)fortenately, there are. The enourmus data density, amount of communication and use of all kinds of advanced agents inside our extranet means that at times intelligences can emerge in a spontanous manner from networks not designed to show advanced agency, personality or sapience. This is however a rare occurance, and the Systems Alliance has measures in place to quickly identify and adress any such emergent AI systems before they can run rogue and cause damage, whether unintentional or intentional. Also, our ability to design agents has advanced to the point where we can avoid unwanted emergent intelligence inside agent networks outside of a very few spontanous cases; every year there are an average of two hundred emergent AI cases in transhuman space, an extremely low amount compared to the hundreds of billions of discrete AI agents used.

* * *

 **Infomorphs**  
Lastly, a note on Uploads or Infomorphs. These are not classified as AI just by themselves. However, neurological scans may be and are used to generate neural networks for AI agents; so Infomorphs may be precoursors to various forms of advanced AI. The hostar of a sapient or high-sentient AI is also refered to as an Infomorph, given that these AI are highly cognat Infolife and functionaly and actually almost indistinguishable from a biological mind uploaded for digital emulation.

* * *

A/N: Kept you waitin' huh? Sorry for the long silence, but I was busy pretty much _everywhere_ but not here. Also, I was waiting for a relatively comprehensive document I could post, and well... this one here is one.

I hope this clears up the AI definitions used in Ascendance... somewhat. There's a lot of details and AIs are as diverse as the colors of the spectrum.

Besides that... if anyone has a worldbuilding topic or question, feel free to leave a PM or a review with that question. Reviews and discussion is how this story grows, and what motivates me to drive this forward!


	9. 9 - Spec Sheet New York Class Cruiser

**Systems Alliance Spacy**  
 **CQA-02** _ **New York**_ **Class Covert Operations Cruiser Spaceframe**  
 **  
OVERVIEW**  
The _New York_ -Class Covert Operations Cruiser was commishioned by the Systems Alliance Spacy in 2215 following the Verge Extreme Deep Operations competition between the major spacecraft design and construction companies of transhuman space. Ultimately, it was New Los Angeles Yards, a traditional american Hypercorp and established shipbuilder in the civilian and military world, who garnered the multi-billion contract to create the _New York_ Class and an initial group of 40 of the vehicles, to be delivered by 2221.

The New York-class stands out in that its basic spaceframe layout, a semi-winged aerodynamic body, is shared by a number of other New Los Angeles yard products for the civilian market, primarily freight vehicles but also other purpose machines, up to and including armed merchant designs. This allows many of the components used in the structure and spaceframe of the New York-class to be mass-produced, especialy the micro-sintered spaceframe skeleton (which tend to be expensive on military vehicles as they aren't mass-produced in large numbers, complicating line assembly.) While at first glance this only serves as a cost-cutting measure, it is actually part of an approach for Verge Operations that cloaks military vehicles among a slew of civilian vehicles with a similiar spaceframe. Using Hull Adaptation Kits, the New York Class can quickly be disguided, and on long-range and short-range imaging is essentialy indistnquishable from an armed merchant or entirely unarmed spacecraft.

Underneath this quirky hull, the New York Class features the standard load-out of a cruiser, with accomodations for its covert operations requirments. The New York Class can embark an entire Mobile Strike Batallion (MSB) of the Espatiers, with vehicles and interface craft, has an extened flight deck and space parasite bays, can hold several flights of AKVs as well as a flight of Space Combat Vehicles (fighters), and has standard cruiser arnaments.

For Covert Operations, the New York class has an extended holding deck for prisoners, including a cryonanic storage room for cryo-freezing up to 250 prisoners, a Class-II Special Forces Module, and extended consumables stores. EWAR abilities are expanded, as well as the sensor suite, and there is an expanded TMS with additional lithium heat sinks that allow the cruiser to run "civ-cold" even when powering its more advanced onboard systems.

 **USE**  
The New York Class is operated both by the Spacy and the Alliance Intelligence Agency, with primary (confirmed) operative enviroments being the trailward frontier, Verge, Traverse and the Terminus. The New York Class is used for pro-active patrol work (trapping Pirates and documenting space activity), covert planetary assault work, and is involved with Black Ops and Wet work. Several times, New York class cruisers have performed covert tactical and strategic attacks on target of opportunity. SSV _Brooklyn_ destroyed the Pirate Station _Mker'tilkrat_ in 2228 via low-relativistic fly-by tactical nuclear strike, SSV _Momochi Sandayu_ destroyed several surface settlements either by Pure Fusion TacNuke or kinetic bombardment during the Cold Verge War and the Second Verge War.

Operative use as of 2230+ remains classified. The number of New York Class cruisers is estimated at 165 active plattforms, in three blocks.

* * *

 **SPECIFICATIONS:  
Spaceframe dimensions:**

620 meters length  
200 meters width at widest spaceframe point (excluding radiator wings, which tip at 260 meters width)  
120 meters high at highest spaceframe point

 **Mass:**  
~950,000 Metric tons  
40% (380,000 metric tons) Propulsion Remass

 **Spaceframe Construction:**  
Free-sintered Micro-Alloy skeleton, Iron-Titanium Primary.  
Pressure body in spacecraft center space. Service spaces unpressurized, robot-tended, however intertialy controlled.

 **Physical Crew**  
20 Comnmand Crew  
75 Operations Crew  
20 Engineering Crew  
20 Support Personnel  
30 Flight Crew  
30 Espatier Security Detachment

+350 Espatier Mobile Strike Batallion  
+30 Special Forces  
+250 Passengers

Up to 860 nominal crew. More can be embarked in general cargo space. Full carrier capacity can be up to 6000 people, more in suspension or cryo.

 **AI**  
1 WARMIND Weak ASI  
1 ATHENA-6R Assistant/EWAR Weak ASI

40 Command AGIs (30 Class II)  
80 Engineering AGIs (30 Class II)  
200 Command and Control LAIs  
180 Support LAI  
400 Daemon LAI

30 Daemon CLAIs

est. 1600 other (non-robotic) AI Agents

 **Robotics**  
700 Size-IV Service Robots  
1500 Size-III Service Robots  
2500 Size-II Service Robots  
5000 Size-I Service Robots

500 Craft Defense Robots  
600 Crew Service Robots

* * *

 **STL Neutral CM Max Acceleration:** 10 G  
 **STL Nominal Cruise Acceleration:** 30,000 G  
 **STL Nominal Flank Acceleration:** 200,000 G  
 **FTL Max Velocity:** 4821 cee (13.2 Ly/Day) w. 33 Lightyears effective flight range (2.5 Days)  
 **FTL Acceleration Profile:** 6 hours for 4821 cee.

* * *

 **PROPULSION SYSTEM  
Main Propulsion Train Aft:**  
 **4x Rolls-Royce Interplanetary EFAD-55R Kairesen**

Multi-Stage Main Propulsion Bus

Cold and Hot Plasma Thruster Operation (Microwave Resonance Plasma heating and magnetic acceleration)  
Fusion torch (electromagnetic confinement, gravitic crush-pinch)  
Antimatter-catalyzed fusion torch  
Antimatter-boosted fusion (antimatter "afterdrive")  
Antimatter plasma torch

Fuel: Class-I Slush-state deuterium and liquid Helium-3; military anti-deuterium ions  
Reaction mass: Pre-expaned metallic hydrogen, Iridium Nanopellet antimatter target

 **2x Orley Fusion Technologies Askaryan-600B**

Plasma/Fusion Propulsion Bus & Secondary MHD generator

Cold and Hot Plasma Thruster Operation (Microwave Resonance Plasma heating and magnetic acceleration)  
Fusion Exhaust Torch

Reaction Mass: Pre-expanded metallic hydrogen, Fusion Powerplant Helium Plasma  
Magnetohydrodynamic-enabled for power generation in Fusion Mode

 **Main Propulsion Train Forward:**  
 **4x Rolls-Royce Interplanetary EFAD-55R Kairesen** ; in line with aft EFAD-55R; forward and aft engines share core reaction chamber, with magnetic vectoring of products forward or aft.

 **Sideburner Propulsion Train:**  
 **8x Nakajima Kakuyu Go 50 (2 per side)**

Antimatter-catalyzed Fusion torch  
Fuel: Class-I Slush-state deuterium and liquid Helium-3; military anti-deuterium ions  
Reaction mass: Pre-expaned metallic hydrogen, Iridium Nanopellet antimatter target

 **Secondary Propulsion Train:**  
 **12x Ad Astra Rocket Company Stellaris-41M (6 forward, 6 aft)**

Propellant: Metallic Hydrogen

 **16x Ad Astra Rocket Company Stellaris-35M (4 per spacecraft side)**

Propellant: Metallic Hydrogen

 **Emergency Propulsion Train:**  
8x Aft-facing Aerojet Rocketdyne ETS-420 Guardian Wing Electric solid propellant Emergency Thrust Rockets  
8x Forward-facing Aerojet Rocketdyne ETS-420 Guardian Wing Electric solid propellant Emergency Thrust Rockets  
16x Side-facing Aerojet Rocketdyne ETS-400 Cannard Electric solid propellant Emergency Thrust Rockets (4 per spacecraft side; 2 forward, 2 aft)

 **MANOUVERING TRAIN**  
 **Punarvasu Spaceflight Technologies Vāta-11**

High-Powered Plasma Thruster Reaction Control System  
Reaction mass: Metallic Hydrogen, Liquid Xenon

 **Armstrong Industries LOXPRO-141**

Metholox Reaction Control System  
Propellant: Slush Methane, Liquid Oxygen

* * *

 **POWER TRAIN**  
 **4x Orley Fusion Systems Fusion Stellarator Powerplant**

Coupled to 4x Magnetohydrodynamic-Thermoelectric Linear Power generation systems, 400 meters long, forward-extending from fusion reactors  
Fuel: Class-I Slush-state deuterium and liquid Helium-3

 **2x Areva Corp RNMAS-12 Plutonium pebble-bed reactor back-up power supply**

 **8x BASF Metholox Fuel Cell Array**

 **3x Orley Energy Technology Main Superconductor Toroid Stack Capacitator Storage**

 **2x Main MUX Power train, superconductive, supercooled**

* * *

 **THERMAL MANAGMENT**  
Ashikata Systems Incorporated Triplicate Main Solid-state Thermal superconductor network for system cooling

1 primary, 2 secondary coolant network for Fusion powerplant and generators  
1 primary, 1 secondary coolant network for Fission back-up power

1x Liquid Nitrogen Coolant Loob for system applications

4x Ashikata Systems Incorporated Armored Heat Radiator Wings

1x Ashikata Systems Incorporated Diffuse Radiator Arrays

4x Ashikata Systems Incorporated D-1900 Liquid Radiator Boom Pairs

1x Ashikata Systems Incorporated S-540 Liquid Radiator Array

6x Cord-Hislop Aerospace Mk.4122 Emergency Heat Radiator Sails

8x Ashikata Systems Incorporated Deep-Zero Lithium Heatsink banks

* * *

 **DRIVE FIELD ASSEMBLY**  
 **1x Cydonia Drive Yards ROSEN-4/45 Block 4 Mass Effect Drive Core (Primary)**

5th Gen KAIDEN series Solid-State Nano-Array, liquid helium-cooled  
Solid-State Nano-relay Power Coupling

 **2x Cydonia Drive Yards ROSEN-4/20 Block 2 Mass Effect Drive Core (Secondary)**

5th Gen KAIDEN series Solid-State Nano-Array, liquid helium-cooled  
Solid-State Nano-relay Power Coupling

 **4x New Los Angeles Yards "Thunder Magician" Static Storage Array**

 **BASF-Nashan Stellar Dynamics Primary and Secondary Eezonic Drive Systems Waveguide Network, NTT-850 Series, New York Class Custom**

 **2x Cydonia Drive Yards YUKASHI-1/65D STL Countermass Drive Field Projection Arrays** (w. 16 primary field generators/projectors assemblies, 128 secondary field generators/projector assemblies, 384 Field Effectors)

 **1x Cydonia Drive Yards TIAN-88/14 FTL Drive Field Projection Array**

4th Gen Drive metrics

 **2x BlueDot Dynamics 1101 FTL Flight Control System**

Asimov Heuristics Navigator-Oh-9 CLAI

* * *

 **PROPELLANT STORAGE**  
Xi'an HL Tank and Containment Solutions Metallic Hydrogen Storage (magnetic compression) for 380,000 metric tons of hydrogen  
Orley Enterprise Cryogenic Slush Deuterium Tankage  
Orley Enterprise Cryogenic Liquid Helium-3 Tankage  
Yutan Cryogenics Starspark Antimatter Containment System  
Iridium Nanopellet Antimatter Target Bunkerage (Smart foam embedded)  
Small Nuclear Fuel Plutonium Pebbles Bunkerage for back-up power supply

* * *

 **OFFENSIVE SYSTEMS**  
 **Rosenkov Materials VELOSITAS-M54T14 80 Kiloton Throw Energy Main Co-axial Mass Accelerator 595 meters**

Projectile weight between 2 and 40 kilogramms  
Maximum throw velocity ~0.062c

 **Rheinmetall Weltraumwaffen _Schwere Nutzlastgausskanone_ _225_ Payload Gauss Gun 500 meters**

Projectile weight between 1 and 500 kilograms  
Maximum throw velocity: 300 km/s  
Ammunition: various; carried for tactical surface bombardment purposes with airburst nuclear devices.

 **Ares Weapon Technologies Sandstorm Mk-IV-Heavy M1550R1 Co-axial Coloid Gun; 10 Kilotons/s 550 meters**

Maximum Throw Velocity 0.2c  
Ammunition: Charged Micro-particles, neutralized at muzzle

* * *

 **Lockheed Aerospace Mk.557 Forward Torpedo Launch System**

6 Tubes 90 km/s  
24 Tibes 20 km/s

 **Lockheed Aerospace Mk.140 VLS**

4 60-cell Launchers  
4 25-cell Launchers

* * *

 **4x Dual-linked Ares Weapon Technologies Novabolt -Heavy Charged Particle Beam Cannon, turreted**

Maximum shot power: 15 kilotons effective  
2500 kilometers coherent range  
Ammunition: Deuterium or Carbon Ions

 **2x Titan Armories EMC-2508 Payload Coilguns, turreted**

600 RPM, 1500 km/s  
Ammunition: Kinetic Sabot, Disruptor, EMP, Nuclear Tactical

 **2x Ares Weapon Technologies Lightforge-2F7Q Free Electron Laser Core** with

8x Ares Weapon Technologies Skybolt-98M4b 350cm Laser Aperture (Attack)  
32x Ares Weapons Technologies Linebacker-41D 200cm Laser Aperture (Counterbattery/Intercept)

* * *

 **DEFENSIVE SYSTEMS**  
 **8x Ares Weapon Technologies Lightkeeper-98D Blue Frequency GARDIAN**

6x 60cm aperture  
2x 100cm aperture  
each.

 **16x Rheinmetall Weltraumwaffen _Kurzdistanzverteidigung: Rotierende Schienenkanone_ _224_ Kinetic CIWS**

7000 RPM  
Maxumum throw velocity: 40 km/s  
Ammunition: Kinetic Sabot, Airburst Flechete, Impact Plasma High-explosive

 **1x Raytheon Rayshield-4 Series-DQK BQS-4 Kinetic Barrier System**

550 Kinetic Barrier primary generator/emitter system  
700 Kinetic Barrier secondary emitter/effector

Pumped by 110 Eezo Cores

63 Scanning RADAR/LIDAR detection systems

 **1x** **New Boston Spacewright Whipplefield-5 Navigational Kinetic Barrier System**

 **20x Raytheon Gorgon-45A Laser/EM Dazzler Array**

 **60x Hamejen Heavy Industries CIMTAC-85 " _Rakshaak_ " 20-Cell Counter-Missile VLS**

* * *

 **ARMOR**

15cm Standard Spaceflight Outer Impact Plating w. 2 Whipple Spaces, on Metal Foam Skeleton mechanical mount

2 meters of c-allotrope/ceramic layer composite whipple shielding and thermal superconductor-threaded ablative foam

1.5 meters main armor belt

1 meter fibre-weave spalling back-stop w. c-allotrope/ceramic whipple shielding.

Secondary armor belts over engineering, drive core assembly, and CIC Pod

* * *

 **Life Support  
**

Cydonia Drive Yards QSL-31/MA Global Inertics Control System, rated for up to 3 million Gs effective

Cydonia Drive Yards QSL/B-45 Back-Up Inertics in Engineering, CIC Pod, Combat Rooms, primary and secondary corridors, and primary maintenance spaces

Closed-loop, bio-nano-recycling Standard Gas Mix System, distributed, tripple-redundant

Oxygen Candle Emergency Back-up supply w. Carbon Dioxide Binder compound

Life Support System Load capacity 7000 standard-activity, standard-size sophonts

* * *

 **PARASITE VEHICLES**  
4x Flights of United Aerospace Technologies Type-47 Raider Autonomous Kill Vehicles  
1x Flight of Jupiter Aeronautics Type-45/02 Starsaber Space Combat Vehicles

12 Drone Garrages with 2 launcher and two capture slots each; 30 drones per launcher. Defensive load-out.  
2 Large Drone Garrages for recon, communication, decoy and electronic warfare drones.

6x Sol Aérospatiale STS-15 "Jumper" Space Transfer Shuttles  
4x Sol Aérospatiale STS-30M "Tachi" Space Assault Gunboat

8x Kanandu Aerospace UT/MA-47S Kodiak Drop/Assault Shuttle  
2x Kanandu Aerospace UT-120 Comanche TAV

More vehicles as required by mission/Espatier MSB

 **SENSORS AND COMMUNICATIONS**  
Phased Array RADAR/LIDAR combination over majority of combat hull  
Optical Phased Array; visual, IR, UV

Optical Telescopes: 14x 12m Optical-IR (cooled)

Aerotechnica Corporation Civil RADAR/LIDAR Suite

6x Civilian Com/Extranet Slipbeam Up/Downlink telescopes  
6x Traffic Communication Slipbeam Up/Downlink telescope  
8x Military Com Slipbeam Up/Downlink telescopes

6x Microwave Tightbeam Phased Array

* * *

 **A/N:** This is the (mostly complete) Spec Sheet of the SSV _Fujibayashi Nagato_ , the current transport of our heroes. The Section 9-used _New York_ class deviates from the standard military spec sheet in several regards, and it doesn't carry the fuel combat load (or munitions) of a military-duty _New York._


	10. 10 - Transhuman Firearms Corporations 1

**Hahne-Kedar Weapons Technologies**  
A south african-australian weapons manufacturer founded during the 2120s, HK Weapons Technologies grew out of (Hahne-Kedar) FabTech, a start-up specializing in fully automated, AI-driven manufacture of systems with on-demand, rapid-reorientation lines. As FabTech expanded its reach, the corporation soon branched into weapons technology. The end result was Haehne-Kedar Weapons Technologies. In 2174, HKWT was in turn put under MilFab Technologies together with the absorbed JSC Kalashnikov Concern and several other bought-up arms manufacturers.

Haehne-Kedar is known as an average, but cheap gear producer, with good pricing, delivery and superb logistics, and a good personal combat system line aimed at transhumans primarily. By Citadel standards, Hahne-Kedar gear used to be quite good, a position that has fallen somewhat behind. HKWT Armor is designed for transhuman combat Shells in mind, with integrated interfacing options and minimal direct power assistance. The corporation also manufacture for full Synthmorph frames, with Rapid-On, Rapid-Off (RORO) armor solutions that can be snapped directly to the synthetic body. HKWT has also established itself as _the_ entry-level market supplier for non-human armor solutions, aimed at aqua-, aero- and terramobile uplifts alike. In consequence, it also offers armor systems for adapted and hybrid frames such as used by Systems Alliance Marines Combat Selkies.

Besides weapons, HKWT also produces cheap Mechs, Combat Robots, and drone combat systems. These are all made from simple to fabricate, hard-edge components with few advanced systems, making them easy to manufacture and maintain, and lightweight to transport. HKWT also produces a set of in-field fabrication arrays and container-portable field assembly solutions for making these units on the frontline, from space to underwater, for easy replenishment without a finished-fabrication aerospace supply train. The Systems Alliance uses HKWT Mechs and robots extensively for planetary security and surveillance operations, as well as expendable assets in the case of war. During the Second Verge War, the Systems Alliance fabricated more than 600 billion HKR MCR-45B4 "Loki" Combat Mechs for planetary suppression and patrol duties.

In general, Hahne-Kedar products range from cheap to very good, with a few excellent product lines that Hahne-Kedar has secured for themselves. The corporation is well-known for its practise of releasing dozens of variants of a base platform, with varying capabilities, manufacturing grade and thus price and logistics footprint.

Flagship products:

\- M8A1 Block 4 "Avenger" Assault Rifle (for combat robot/drone use)

\- M15A4 "Storm" Semi-Automatic Combat Shotgun (for combat robot/drone use)

\- HKR-45 Series "Loki" Humanoid Patrol Mech

\- HKR-63 Wächter Aeromobile Sentry Plattform

\- Gallern Series Ammunition Blocks

 **Heckler & Koch**  
Transhuman arms manufacturer, based in the former ESF. Reputation for a core plattform of trusted weapon systems with superior engineering. H&K systems are modular, use cutting-edge materials, and are superior ballistic products, but at the cost of pricing. H&K weapons are throughout the bank build on cutting-edge, yet robust solutions. Conventional mechanical parts have been abandoned in favor of microgrown metamaterials, the weapons structural frame are build from cutting-edge foamed memory materials, and the extreme-performance plasma-jacket railguns and eezonic systems give H&K guns superior punch while minimizing recoil.

Most H&K guns are addressed at the mainline infantry market, with a side note in law enforcement, civilian defense, and in recent decades, superheavy humanoid combat arms. They are throughout the bank kinetic guns, with very few deviations into the energy weapons sector, but H&K has cultivated a set of advanced payload guns firing smart grenades and seekers for infantry use. H&K guns tend to be customizable, multi-situation gun systems with multiple sub-weapons, usually a core mass accelerator supporting two, in special forces systems three or even four ammo blocks with high-performance shavers, as well as a high-capacity payload launcher system. H&K tactical carbines are often equipped to accept even a third overbarrel option.

H&K is also (in)famous for pushing the boundary of personal kinetic arms with some more unique products. The "Rangers Carbine", or officially _Massenbeschleunigergewehr_ 120R, exploits the same barrel stacking technology used in essentially all modern compacting mass drivers, and marries it to micromachine active sintering technology. The end result is a weapon that is, while not as compacting as normal weapons, fully able to switch between a variable-length assault rifle and a DMR at a moments notice. Both as a handheld weapon and weapon mount, the MBG-120R was used extensively during the Cold Verge War and the Second Verge War against the Batarian Hegemony.

Flagship products

\- (MB)G-455S Subsonic Stealth Carbine

\- (MB)G-120R Assault Rifle/Battle Rifle/DMR Hybrid

\- (MB)G-130 Battle Rifle

\- (TB)G-110 Multiple Weapon System

\- (MBM)G-70 Close-Quarters Carbine

\- RSK-30 "Der Schredder" Rotary Railgun System (for use on Exosuits and IPS)

\- GGW-17 Automatic Grenade Launcher

\- SDRW-68 Automatic Seeker Launcher

 **Seburo Corp**  
A Japanese-Indonesian Arms manufacturer founded in the 2030s out of the South-East Asia Security Alliance, Seburo Corp rode the Post-World War 3 arms market developments at the forefront of personal defense weapons, close-quarters arms, and special forces/paramilitary armaments.

Seburo weapons of the chemical and electrochemical age were marked by compact shapes, small cartridges with high impact power, reliability and high ergonomics, as well as excellent gun quality and a unique design.

The modern Seburo Corp are marked by the same design choices. Eschewing compacting ability almost entirely, Seburo instead chose to pack as much punching power as feasible into its weapon designs. The result are slim, compact designs firing plasma-jacketed sabots with, for infantry weapons, very high velocity; or Directed Energy Guns using highly advanced plaser or proton beamer weapons.

The only disadvantage of this is that Seburo weapons are incompatible with most common ammo block systems; the plasma jacket technology that permits the rounds their high velocity without excessive atmospheric ablation demands metamaterial saboting of the rounds fired. Seburo DEWs in a similiar manner are dependant on custom high-energy cells, though beam weapons can be supplied with standard high-pressure hydrogen cartridges.

The other feature modern Seburo Corp products are lauded for is their excellent SmartLink system and onboard weapon electronics. Optimized for ECM-ladden, snap-decision close-quarters combat in cyberwarfare-heavy environments, Seburo weapons have excellent onboard targeting and ballistics sensors, an onboard targeting LAI, separate SnapShot server for hosting usually user-based combat apps on the gun itself, and all with extremely low lag and latency. This ensures on-point auto-targeting, HALO fire control and IFF lock-out, as well as general targeting through smoke, flashbangs, dazzlers and environmental obstacles without issues, lags, or crashing.

Flagship products

\- ETH-2 Medium Pistol

\- ETC-2i Combat Carbine

\- ETC-5R Combat Carbine

\- ETC-6B Tactical Carbine

\- ETC-30 Assault System

\- ETS-241 Automatic Shotgun System

\- ETEH-51 P-Beamer Pistol

\- ETER-36 Plaser Rifle

 **Tairon Arms**  
A Brasilian Start-Up of the early 22nd-century colonial years, Tairon Arms started as a modern Elephant gun manufacturer, producing high-powered hunting and self-defense guns. Adapting military mass driver tech to the civilian environmental, Tairon Arms soon fused into one of the early Webcorps - networks of smaller companies with common representation and IP share arrangements - to produce everything needed for a colonist to tame the wild of new habitable worlds that were discovered left and right. Special cybernetics and civilian exoskeletons and exo-suits joined high-powered bush guns.

Tairon Arms never tried to compete in the mainline military market by itself. Instead, the corporation turned to the growing scene of mercenaries and tactical gun owners, as well as soldiers, who wanted high-powered, reliable weapons. However, as mass driver technology advanced, Tairon Arms adherence to staying un-miniaturized and un-compacting gave their weapons an increased rep-cred of being reliable and unhackable. Where other guns failed and shut down, Tairon continued to function. The heavy punch was always nice, of course.

And thus started the career of one of transhumanities unlikeliest weaponsmithing companies. Nowadays, Tairon Arms is as much known for „cool" as for „practical", with a main selling point of „punchy". This has earned Tairon Arms a quite significant alien following however - and the Systems Alliance contracts Tairon Arms for Anti-Krogan and Anti-wildlife weaponry both.

One noteworthy point: No Tairon weapon uses ammo blocks. Fired rounds are throughout the bank macroscopic projectiles handled in magazines.

Flagship Products (Military market)

\- TACW-6|9 "Tacawa" Heavy Revolver Hand Cannon

\- TACR-7/80 "Tayrec" Battle Rifle

\- TACS-2|2 Medium Machine Gun

\- TARC-1 "Otorongo" Heavy Anti-Material Railcannon


End file.
